then the publick certain Knowledge of it could do for it would cause such Factions and Divisions therein and such an Aversion to that Prince that he should be forced to yield up his Command into other hands and to alienate them from the Quarrel that it would most effectually hinder the English Success from passing the Bounds they intended them and hence would arise such a Disreputation to the King and such a Dissatisfaction in the People in general as should conjure up such devilish Factions as with all the Art he had he should never be able to lay quiet enough to leave him at liberty to act any thing considerable against the French Interest in case he should attempt that way to regain his Subjects Confidence and Esteem and consequently would deter him from the very Thoughts of disobliging such a Friend and quitting such Alliance of so near so present and of so potent a Protector as the French King had made himself pass with our deluded Prince against the so much dreaded Practices of the Republicans which those Emissaries still took care tho' covertly to represent in the frightfulest Colours their most Romantick Inventions could supply them and so with my humblest Respects to your Lordship Concludes My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant Paris March 31. 1678. LETTER XXVIII Of the Success of the French Arms against the United Provinces in the Year 1672. Their further Resolves to Elude us and their Wheedles to induce the Amsterdamers to yield My Lord THE States being at length roused up out of their sleepy Security and beginning to dread that notwithstanding all the French Wheedles and Delusions those vast Preparations by Land and the lasie Movements of their Armies boded no good to them did by their Embassador at Paris who was a Son of Hugo Grotius offer the French King all the Satisfaction imaginable But that haughty Monarch had concerted his Measures so well and thought himself now so sure of his Game that all their Offers were laughed at Your Lordship knows well enough what a bustle was made in England by Summoning of the East India Company to give an account of the Insults of the Dutch upon their Factories since the Peace at Breda who answered and gave it under their Hands that they knew of none and such other stuff as that was yet the French King did not think fit to trouble his Brains with any such Pretensions but his chief Motive to undertake this War was that that State did eclipse his Glory and must be humbled c. And accordingly gave his Armies Orders to enter the Dutch Territories I need not recite to your Lordship the Success he met with in his Enterprize and how like a Torrent he carried all before him how Rhinburg Dossery Deudekâ—m Rees Wesel Emerick Doesburg Turesume Nimeguen Swoll Daventer Grave Arnheim Skinenschon Creveceer fell quickly into his hands and Coventer to the Bishop of Munster his Confederate and the greedy Monsieur now began with an amorous Eye to look upon Amsterdam which he did not question but to be speedily Master of and it was the least of his Intension to allow our King any Share or Part of the Repartition before concerted on between them And tho' it were privately suggested unto him by a grave Minister that attended him that if he proceeded any further he doubted his Conduct would be contrary to his Interest as tending how much soever he doted on their friendship to alienate the King of England's Affections from them by degrees and convert the Confidence he had in their Sincerity into utmost Detestation especially the main Charms being by the Death of his principal Charmeress his late lovely and beloved Sister in a manner dissolved and tho' he should be over-awed by other Considerations as to smother his Resentments yet it would so loudly awaken the Old Aversion of our Nation against them that far from being able to continue much longer in League with them it would be impossible for him during such a Juncture and under such Provocations to contain his irritated Subjects within the Bounds of a stupid Neutrality or restrain their Fury from recoiling upon himself and the Royal Family any other way then by letting of them loose upon the French and suffering of them to wreak their Revenge and long curbed Inclination in an open and vigorous War on their old Adversaries to oblige them to regorge those delicate Morsels of which they had so perfidiously and unfairly defrauded them of their stipulated Share whilst their Allies and Confederates Yet My Lord Excess of Prosperity had so blinded the French King that like the Emperour Charles V. of Austria when he had taken Francis the first then King of France Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia he fancied they had all the World now in a String and had partly already provided and partly concerted such excellent Salves against all Inconveniencies of that kind that as secure against all Contingencies or the jadish Tricks of Fortune whom they imagined to be now fastned with too strong and well-contrived-harness to their triumphant Chariot to kick against her Drivers much less break her Rains they thought they might incontrouledly play what Tricks they would with the English tho' to flatter us with the hopes of our Repartition would be necessary yet for a time as it would be easie after the Reduction of Amsterdam and the entire Conquest of those Countreys both by specious Arguments to justifie against our precarious Plea their intended retention of the whole to themselves and to back their Usurpations by force when once in Possession As did the Lion in the Fable to the Beasts who on the plausible Condition of being allowed an equitable Share had entred into a Confederacy of hunting with his Brutish Majesty but he when all was done making himself to be Judge and Sharer had upon Alamode Pretences the Brutish Conscience to take and by force to keep all from them And accordingly the French when they found that on their side Victory advanced not on Tortoise Claws but Eagles Wings and saw themselves before either Neighbours or Allies were aware Masters of the best part of the Territories of that distressed State and with their Swords in their Hands point almost to the Vitals of it As they were most surprisingly active in taking all they could for themselves most liberal in allotting our Auxiliaries in their Armies their full share in the Fatigues of the War most false to the Faith of our mutual League by declining in their turn to second those Advances we were ready to make towards the like Success and in fine most perfidiously busie in casting Rubs in our way as I have before hinted to your Lordship to balk and in planting those Lights to misguide and shipwrack our Designs So by their Conduct as well as Minutes it did appear that they intended not to stop there but that after those stupendious Progresses that favoured their Beginnings It was resolved by them
to them That matters of Religion and Commerce should remain in the same state As also the Priviledges of their Companies Collonies c. That they should have the priviledges of Natives in all the other Dominions of France with many other Sugar-Plums To the exact performance of which it was not to be questioned but they would easily give credit since to that time his Honour was entire and had no ways been stained with any gross Infidelities and that the Protestants then enjoyed no small Liberty in his Dominions And when you shall be in the possession of the place all these specious promises need not hinder your Majesty said they from seizing however as much of their Treasure as your Interest shall direct you to take nor from putting such other restraints upon them as you please for which they gave him such expedients as were thought proper and necessary for to elude the advantageous and specious Conditions by which their over-credulous Inhabitants were to be wheedled out of their precious Liberties In the last place they laid before him the many and grand Inconveniences which by letting slip such an advantageous Juncture would unavoidably follows which they represented as much more in number and of vastlier greater Consequence than those that could possibly arrive from his pursuing it For urged they if your Majesty let go this Opportunity It will not only be said of you as of the Great Hannabal that you know how to get but know not how to prosecute a Victory but the same Fate will likewise befall you This despised and almost oppressed Enemy will recover Strength and Courage the Germans and the House of Austria will come into its succour you must quit your present Conquests to oppose them and your present Allies on the Continent will forsake you If you be beaten how disadvantageous and perhaps fatal must the event needs be to you and if you overcome yet how far will you be from a compleat Conquest or from making that advanced and assured progress towards the erection of a new Empire as you would do in the taking that one place whose Gates tho' they belong but to one City would let you into the Possession of the most valuable parts of the Earth and furnish you with the nerves of War which thereby would be cut off from the rest of the World I was not willing to give your Lordship an account of this Consultation by piece-meals and that has made me so tedious who am My Lord Your Honour 's to serve You. Paris July 2. 1678. N. S. LETTER XXXII Of the Confederacy entered into for the defence of Holland of the Prince of Orange's success against France and of the Methods used by the French to hinder the King of England to make Peace and joyn with the Dutch by removing my Lord Shaftsbury from being Chancellor c. My Lord THere was hardly a Prince on the Earth worse served than our King and paid more no less than Three Embassadors to make up the Embassy mentioned in my last save one to your Lordship and yet Two of the Three concurring with the French designes to the ruine of Hollund first and so consequently their own Native Country next so that the poor Hollanders as your Lordship may well remember were forced to save their Country from the French who pursuant to the last advise were ready to devour it by losing it in the Sea in breaking down the Dikes the last extremity and the only remedy they had left them for this gave them time to think of their Affairs and this first brought the Elector of Brandenburg then the Emperor and at last the King or Queen Regent of Spain as apprehensive of the common danger to all of them in general by the French subduing the Dutch Provinces to enter into a mutual League for their defence and by their Conjunction The Prince of Orange who had all this time struggled with the hardest destiny that could be and lay neglected by his Uncles as if they had no share either in his good or bad Fortunes recovered several of the Upland Towns in almost as little time as they had been taken by the French and like another Scipio having joyned Montecucucli the Emperors General in the dead of Winter and so carrying the War out of his own Country Besieged and took Bon the Residence of the Elector of Cologn and thereby did cut off the Comunication between France and Holland whereby the French were necessitated not only to quit their Conquered Towns by heaps but he also opened a passage for the Imperial Forces to joyn the Dutch and Spanish But tho' neither the sence of his own true Interest nor the Tyes of Consanguinity to the Prince of Orange could induce our King to come to the rescue of Holland which notwithstanding the Princes bravery and success was still but in a pitiful plight as having but newly recovered their drowned Country yet the French had an incurable Jealousie of him the remembrance of the forementioned interposition by his Embassy was still fresh in memory And as that fell out when they least expected any such thing so they considered a Peace might be struck up in as sudden and surprizing a manner and therefore they set all their Engines on work to hinder it if possible and in the first place knowing that great Person who had the influence over the King to procure such an Embassy and might also by the same Arguments induce him to make a much hardier step and force him at last in spight of his own inclinations or of French Menaces as well as of French Charmes not only to a Peace with Holland but even to a War against them They therefore left nothing unessay'd or stone untur'd to get him to dispose of the Chancellor's place tho' it was well known the King himself upon a certain occasion had given his Testimony of his being the wisest Subject he had in his Dominions and seemed at that time to value him accordingly I cannot positively inform your Lordship by which of their Instruments it was done for I never could find it was inserted in the Minutes but I have heard it generally discoursed at the French Court that they ploughed in this Affair with the Heifer they had formerly presented the King withal and that the Duke also whom they by their Emissaries iritated against him to whom they alledged that he had taken notice of his keeping off of late from the Protestant Worship and talked too liberally thereof not without some Expressions boding much danger to his Highness and even levelled at putting him by the Succession it self gave an helping hand thereto But for all they had gained so considerable a point as the removal of the Chancellor yet fearing still the worst they never left off their former apprehensions And therefore their Ministers still continued with utmost Application to pursue their Game both by magnificent Promises and Offers of Money and some Menaces a la
at which they whom they thus incited did not so much as dream of Thus while many in our Parliaments were so fierce against Papists Arbitrary Power and the French Interest and cried out against all of the Court-party as French Pensioners tho' 't is true too many of them were so as does appear yet little thought they that they were likewise so themselves and never imagined the same French were Abettors of both Parties And the better to cover this underhand play they drew off most of the Money they employ'd to this latter sort by the way of Genoa Florence Amsterdam and Hamburg that it might not be discovered it came Originally from France Nay my Lord by the by be pleased to take notice that one main cause of the French King's Indignation against Genua tho' it be a very secret one and known to few was their Bankers cackling and discovering to the Agents of the House of Austria the Money privately sent and dispersed and sent towards Poland Hungary Turky and some other Parts not named and has made them imploy none ever since almost but what are openly or covertly Jews who serve the French King with great Fidelity for these Reasons 1. He is in their Esteem the most Powerful in Christendom 2. Because he Favours the Grand Turk where they have so great a Commerce and are in such numbers 3. Because he gives them a liberty by connivance tho' not open Toleration 4. Because he is so great an Enemy to the Austrian Family who have been so Cruel to them by the Inquisition and by Banishing them not only out of the Spanish Territories but likewise out of the Emperor 's Hereditary Countries 5. And lastly Because he seems to them to be of no Religion but almost as great a Scourge to the Christians in general both Popish and others as the Turk Tartar or Barbarian their Principles naturally leading them to admire and revere any thing they think a Plague to Christians whom they are taught to Curse daily even in their Solemn Prayers and therefore England had need have a Care of them in this Juncture But as for the Pensions they gave the Courtiers they Industriously affected the transmission of those Moneys from France and had their Agents busie to buzz it abroad in order to render them odious to the People and to incite the Patriots the more violently against them And tho' a great part of the Money they allowed the King from time to time were sometimes transmitted from the abovementioned Places and some from Venice yet private notice was presently given to their Agents in England and elsewhere with positive Orders to inform the World of the Truth of that Intrigue unless it were some time when a particular Critical Juncture might require a contrary Procedure My Lord this is the Sum of what I could learn in respect to their Correspondence in England either from the Minutes or private Conversation of which your Lordship is sensible I have as great an Opportunity as any other and with which I shall at present conclude who am My Lord Your Honour 's most Humble Servant Paris Iuly 11. 1684. N. St. LETTER XVI Of the French King 's frequent Reviews of his Troops in 1670. and of the umbrage taken in England thereupon and of the Duke of Buckingham's Embassy into France My Lord I Have formerly given your Lordship an Account of the great Levies in France and vast Preparations for War both by Sea and Land what Care had been taken to secure the Domestick Peace in the mean time and what the Opinion of the French Ministers of State were in regard to what Country should be Invaded by them And I am now to acquaint your Lordship that when their Military Preparations were pretty forward which was in the Year 1670. they began to make frequent Reviews of their Troops which to amuse they continued till the end of the next Year in several Bodies towards as many different Frontiers that their Neighbour Nations being used to them and seeing no Effects follow might think they were only done out of a Vanity to make Ostentation of the French Power and Grandure to keep their Soldiers in Discipline and find their Nobility and Active Spirits Employment who else might busie themselves for want of Occupation in disturbing the State The Artifice took so that most of their Neighbours tho' now and then they were troubled with a Fit of Thoughtfulness and Suspicion begun to grow secure and particularly the Hollanders who thought the French King so much in Jest that they tauâ—tingly called him Le Roy des Reveues till more extraordinary and more visible Preparations and Movements did by degrees begin to convince them of their Errour for when they had thus finished their Reviews they suddenly drew a very considerable Army composed of the Flower of all their Forces towards Calais and Dunkirk the Dutch being in the mean time tampered with as I am apt to believe concerning the Invasion of England but yet now full of Jealousie at their Proceedings and here it was the Council was held about the Eligibility of employing their Force the Debates whereof I have already given your Lordship an Account And as the Dutch were Jealous upon this approach the English were much more as your Lordship may well remember to see such a Power brave England on the opposite Shore and look with an Amorous Eye towards it and the more because of the unprepared Posture the Nation was then in insomuch that it was thought advisable to dispatch an Embassy to sound the Intentions of the French Monarch in regard to England whereupon Choice was made of the Duke of Buckingham who admirably well maintained that Character and the Glory of Great Britain on that Occasion and demeaned himself with such an Intrepidity of Mind and Conduct and with such a Grandure and Unconcernedness at the Formidable Armed Powers he saw before his Eyes that those who had been Strangers to the then Condition of our Nation would have thought he had been sent from a Prince that was at the Head of twice as big an Army as the French King at that time shewed the Duke And that Conduct did not a little appall the Presumption of that Ambitious King and contributed much to the inclining of him to acquiesce in Monsieur Le Tellier's Counsel but then withal making him take notice of the Rare and more than ordinary Parts and Abilities of the said Duke it put him naturally upon concluding that it was well worth the while to endeavour to gain such a Person over to his Interest whose Influence might be great either in bringing his Prince to such a Compliance as he desired or at least in briguing for France against him in case he proved inflexible To this end such Complements were past upon the Duke and such extraordinary Honours done him and Presents made him as never no Embassador before nor since hardly ever received insomuch as the Duke suffered himself
to be Charmed and ever since favoured the French Interest either with or against his Prince as Occasion or Policy directed In fine he was told that the French King indeed tho' he had great Temptations from Opportunity and Interest to Attack England yet such was his Respect and Inclination for our King that he was more disposed to imploy his Forces against Holland And that he might with the surer Success undertake such an Expedition his Majesty earnestly prest the Duke to do his utmost to Influence his Master to join his Naval Forces with him in that War by which means he might Revenge the Disgraces received in the last especially that of Chatham as likewise the fresher Insolencies of that Saucy Republick whose Vicinity and Power was so much the more dangerous to the Brittish Monarchs than to any other Crowned Heads as the Subjects of these Nations were more prone to hanker after the Liberty Enjoy'd by the Hollanders and to imitate their Successful Example That by so doing his Excellency would do his own Prince very great Service and have the Honour of Obliging a great Monarch who was as Generous in his Resentments as Formidable in Power c. The Duke returned Home well satisfied and brought a pleasing Answer to our King and plyed him warmly with the Proposition aforesaid tho' at first he was not much harkned too but how when and by whose means their Designs were afterward Accomplished your Lordship may expect to hear when Conveniency serves from My Lord Your very Humble Servant Paris Nov. 30. 1676. N. St. LETTER XVII Of the Princess Henrietta Maria Dutchess of Orleans's being sent Anno 1670. from the French Court to dispose the King to a second War with the Dutch in Conjunction with the French My Lord THe French Court having as I told your Lordship in my Last gain'd the Duke of Buckingham entirely to their Interests they began now to conceive some hopes to bring our King to joyn with them against the States at least wise with his Naval Power of which they had most need and therefore to strike while the Iron was hot they deliberated of sending over an Embassador of their own into England to negotiate the Matter but to colour the Intrigue as if they had no Design of their own thereby and to give no Matter of Jealousie to their Neighbours especially the United Provinces It was agreed it should be a Female Embassadress the Kings fair Sister Henrietta Maria Dutchess of Orleans and so give out at the same time she went over purely on a visit to her Royal Brothers and that it was with some seeming Reluctancy the French King upon her earnest Application to him to that Purpose gave his Consent But she was furnished with such Proposals which they knew well that sent her none could with equal safety and privacy Advance nor none with equal Power and Influence recommend and to secure the whole Transaction from the very Suspitions as well as the Penetration of any not of their Cabal and to make it appear as a pure visit and the effect of natural Affection and void of all Intreague her return was limited to so short a Time and in so peremptory and notorious a Manner that it might induce the World to believe them too Suspitious of the natural Inclinations that Princes might still retain for her Royal Brothers and for the Weal of her and their Native Country so incompatible with the exorbitant grandeur of France to entrust her with any of the mysterious Arcana's of their Politicks and so might prevent all Jealousie in England at that critical Juncture of that interview by shewing so great an Apprehension of it themselves She was charged with the same Message partly and with some of the same Arguments which they had endeavoured to insinuate by the Duke of Buckingham but having an incomparable Advantage above him or any other Embassador to back whatsoever she advanced with all the Charms that a most accomplished and lovely Princes and an only and most beloved Sister could be armed with she who had Wit and Dexterity enough to manage those Priviledges to the utmost Advantage not only prest the said Matter and more home and with infinitely more Freedom and Efficacy but adventured to propose yet higher things and of a much more extended Consequence For addressing her Speech to the King though not without intermixing some Expressions equally affecting also to her Brother the Duke of York she told his Majesty that as she hoped neither of her Royal Brothers had any Reason to call in Question her natural Affection to their Persons and inseparable Inclination for whatsoever did or should at any Time appear to her to be conducing to their true Interest so she believed they had as little cause to doubt but she could see as far as another into the French Monarchs Heart who loved her and admired her to that Degree though innocently as gave no small Umbrage to Monsieur his Brother and her Husband And that she did sincerely represent both as his most Christian Majesty's Sence and her own that the only way to secure to his Majesty and the present Royal Family of England a stability in the Throne they were lately Restored to afâ—er so dismal an overthrow of the Monarchy in the Reign and Person of their unhappy Father and to reinstate the Majesty of the Brittish Kings in its former Splendor and Security enjoyed so long and gloriously in Catholick Times was by all Wise and Politick Mâ—ans to labour to introduce into these Kingdoms the Catholick Religion and to re-assume by Degrees absolute Power â—or that the Church of England by woful Experience had been found too weak alone to defend the Crown and that the Dissenters were so stifly Principled for a Common-Wealth that they would never leave till they had once more overturned the Monarchy unless his Majesty would timely provide for his Security by Methods â—o be proposâ—d to him by her and the most Christian King who she knew had the atmost tenâ—erness for his Interest as was clear enoâ—â—h by all Expressions of his real Inclinations â—â—nce they were emancipated from the â—estraints laid upon them under the Tutelagâ— oâ— a Cardinal who was a Master in pure Politicks and altogether unacquainted with those nobler and more heroick Sentiments of Honour and Generosity which are no less natural and unextinguishable in a born Prince then common Reason is in the â—est of Mankind The chief of which expedients were flattering of the Church of England and first persecuting by Act of Parliament the Protestant Dissenters and wheedling with them again by a Prerogative Lenitive and so by the not to be Questioned acceptance of the Suffering Protestants on the one hand and the no less assured Non-opposition of those of the established Church on the other as by an irresistible Charm to lay asleep that watchful Dragon that had so long kept the golden Apples of Contention between the King and People
Game another way and employ'd their Emissaries in Holland to stir up those People to provoke the King's Resentments by all the ways that Artful Malice could devise they caused him to be represented to them as a mean Spirited Prince drowned in Pleasures and by them Bankrupt and that would put up any Affronts rather than be weaned from them a Moment That slender courage he had being Cowed in the last War as likewise were the Spirits of the proudest Merchants and Seamen his Subjects under such an Unactive Prince adding moreover that to their certain knowledge the Duke of York was now a Papist tho' in hugger mugger and that the People had a strong suspition of it how clandestinely soever carried and had thereupon conceived such an implacable Jealousie against the Duke therefore and against the King himself on his account that they would never patiently brook the Command of the one nor heartily assist or fight for the other in a War against a Protestant State but break into Factions and rather abet them then support so Unwarlike so Unfortunate and what was worst of all so Popishly affected a Prince that therefore now was the time to give that finishing stroak to that so Great so Glorious and so Advantageous a Work to their most Puissant and Renowned Republick which they had more than half done in the last War under the favour of the most Powerful Assistance of their great Master Viz. to obtain for ever the dominion of the Seas so highly contended for by the English and ingross the whole Trade of both the Hemispheares to themselves And that in so Glorious an Undertaking As the Great Monarch of France had when in extremity most opportunely and successfully assisted them in the preceding War So he was determined to do in this not with a few Auxilliary Troops and Ships as before But with his whole Force being resolv'd of nothing less than to concur with their High and Mightinesses for the Absolute Conquest of that Queen of Islands that had so long domineered over the Sea and pretended to give Laws upon that Element which God and Nature had left as free as the Air it self And that their High and Mightinesses might enter into no Umbrage of his designing any Greatness to himself that might be prejudicial to them by such a Conquest he was content to share it with them and that so Partially in their Favour that he would satisfie himself with the two Poorer Kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland the former for the sake of its Ancient Alliances with his Kingdom and the latter because of the Conformity of the Religion of its native Inhabitants with that of his own Subjects leaving to them the Principal which was England where all the Chief Trade Riches and Power both by Sea and Land of the Brittish Empire was concentred together with all its goodly dependances both in the East and West Indies with which he could not pretend to meddle the success of which Proposals I design shall be the subject of another Letter with the first opportunity From My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Servant Paris Feb. 28. 1677. N. S. LETTER XX. The Dutch upon the foresaid Remonstrances made to them by the French King being induced to enter into a Treaty with him were wheedled by the French Embassador to sign their part of it and to send it to the French King for him to sign it but he pretending specious delays sends it to the King of England using it for an Argument for his compliance with the Proposals he made to him of entring into a War in Conjunction with him against the States But ordering his Embassador withal to acquaint him that in case of his Refusal he must be obliged to turn the Sham-League with the Dutch into a real one My Lord THE Specious Remonstrances and moâ—e Inviting Proposals made on the French King's part to the Dutch as mentioned in my last to your Lordship so tickled the Hogens that they suffered themselves to be deluded into a close Treaty with the French Court for that great Expedition not at all thinking what Ruine was designed themselves and Division of their own Territories between the French and English was then Modelling among the Monsieurs as a further tentative to induce our King to arm with France against Holland and that the very League the French pretended to be making with them was but the master Stratagem to procure that other Allyance that without the unexpected and timely interposition of Divine Providence had proved the Mene-Tekel of their Flowrishing State and turned that great Magazine of the Trade and Riches of the Universe into a sorry bank of Lillies accordingly they began first to insult our King in his Person by multitudes of most scandalous and insupportable Pasquirades and Pictures which the French Agents endeavouring to make him resent as they deserved and finding still that he declined to comply with their desires alledging again for Answer the ill success of the last War caused chiefly by them the averseness of his People to another War c. And farther his unwillingness only for Injuries that personally concerned himself alone to engage those Nations again in so bloody and destructive a War as after all could be of no very considerable advantage to either side be the event what it would They proceeded then to tempt him further by offering a larger proportion of those Provinces when Conquered and besides such an assistance in Money as should enable him to go through with the War tho' his Parliament should deny their Concurrence with him therein and to make their perswasions the more effectuall they did again warmly ply the Duke of York attacking of him on the blind side Viz. his Religion and telling him that tho' he were privately a Catholick yet the People began to have a strong suspition of it and would at long run come to know it and would not fail then to make such strong brigues against him as that they would certainly put him by the Succession unless before such a Discovery were perfectly made he could induce his Brother to joyn his Arms with those of his Most Christian Majesties for the Conquest of Holland where were the Vitals that Administred Life and Spirits to all those Factions he had to fear and which after the Conquest of that United many-headed Hydra would soon be supprest â—ut could be by no other way and that then the introduction of the Roman Religion into these Kingdoms whenever he should succeed to them would be easie else impossible that his Most Christian Majesty was then provided with such formidable Forces and had laid the Empire into such a Sleep of Security and so amused the other Neighbour Princes with such doubtful and contrary appearances that before they could awake and rub off the dust they had thrown in their Eyes they might have done their work on the Hollanders who least of all the rest expected an Attack and were therefore
help him to compass it and he was to urge closely 1. That tho' his Britannick Majesty had been by the intollerable Insolencies and base Outrages of the Dutch Nation constrained and necessitated much against his Inclinations to depart from so much of the tripple League as concerned the Hollanders yet he would not fail to retain still his Inclinations to promote as much as lay in him the chief Intent and Purport of it which was in Substance to hinder the French from aggrandizing themselves to the Diminution of their Neighbours but more particularly to the Prejudice of the Catholick King during his Minority provided he would stand Neuter 2. That his Neutrality would be a firm Security to him of what he yet possest in the Netherlands by obviating and taking clean away from the French all manner of pretences to molest his Subjects 3. That the destroying the Hollanders who were base Rebels to him and whom it was as much Scandalous as Pernicious for any Crowned Head to suffer to flourish and prosper in Wealth and Greatness as they had but too manifestly done to the Diminution of their Neighbours and much less to abet would be highly Beneficial and of manifold Advantage to his Catholick Majesty For that the vast Trade of Amsterdam and other great populous and flourishing Towns in Holland and the other Provinces being ruined and depopulated many of the Inhabitants at least all those of the Roman Catholick Religion or Perswasion a great many of the Deists and other Adiaphorites who were very indifferent and careless whether they frequented any publick Worship at all or no but chiefly and above all other things adored Trade and Gold with which the Dutch Territories swarmed above any other Nation either on this or the other side of the Hemisphere would without all doubt refugiate themselves as being nearest and most commodious for them in the Spanish Territories and Provinces especially Flanders and would quickly multiply and encrease in them not only People but Trade and Riches from whence encrease of Power and Strength both by Sea and Land would be a necessary and infallible Consequence And that then the now almost abandoned City of Antwerp once the most famous and most flourishing City in Trade of this part of Europe should have free liberty to lay open her Scheld again now damm'd up by the Hollanders and recover her former Riches Glory and Strength as would necessarily all the other Spanish Cities and trading Towns in that Country in a proportionable degree which would be a means to make Spain herself become much more Flourishing and Populous 4. That the Crown of Spain would by this means have her Hands quite rid of the most troublesome as well as dangerous Rival in Trade and Conquest in the East Indies of any other Europian Nation whatsoever in which respect neither England nor France tho' trading Nations as being Monarchies had not been nor indeed could possibly be or become so prejudicial to it However they might perhaps afterwards be fortified with new Accessions of Strength and Power as that one single Republick which tho' scarce of one age's Growth had yet already to the Amazement as well as Detriment of their Neighbour Nations and especially the Kingdom of Spain and Territories belonging to it monopolized into her own Hands the advantageous and incredibly gainful Trades to the great Kingdoms of China Iapan and many other Parts both of the East Indian and African Coasts whither in former times no other Nations in the World besides those of Spain and Portugal had any manner of Access 5. That the Power of that upstart Republick was already at that exorbitant Greatness and Grandure that there was no possibility either of humbling or depressing it and much less of a total Subversion of it by any other in Christendom then the united Powers of the Kingdoms of England and France and yet things were brought to that pass that if timely care were not taken to have the said Republick removed out of the way or at least mortified to a very great degree it must of necessity in a short time rise up as Old Rome did to such a prodigious Strength Power Dominion and Grandure that it would give Law to all the Crowned Heads in this part of the World and perhaps at last devour them since it well appeared and was conspicuous to all that did not wilfully shut their Eyes that by such little Blows as the Kingdom of England alone was able to give them in the late War and Sea Engagements they had with them their Experience numbers of Seamen Power Strength and Riches were every day advanced and encreased after the Respite of a small breathing time of Peace And that consequently if his Catholick Majesty the King of Spain or rather the Queen Regent and Ministers as also his Imperial Majesty should suffer themselves to be so over-ruled by such a needless as well as unseasonable Jealousie so far as by their Interposition to obstruct and hinder the now probable Downfal of that usurping and encroaching Republick what could they expect and hope for in the Revolution of a few Years but to see those very People whom by their needless Solicitude they had saved from Destruction be so adventurous as to seize into their own Hands by way of Retaliation for their Kindness their precious Mines of Gold and Silver in the Countreys of Peru and Mexico when it should be quite out of the Power either of the Kingdoms of England or France or indeed both of them together should they find themselves so disposed to prevent their inevitable Loss which would be not only a most pernicious Blow but as might very well be feared even a deadly one to the illustrious House of Austria as well as a very sensible one to all the other Princes and States of Christendom And therefore it could not but be a matter even of high Importance and greatly for the Interest and Benefit of his Catholick Majesty and his Subjects in general for him to resolve to remain and continue neuter in this War that was to commence shortly against the united Dutch Provinces and to connive at and give way to the Success of the French and English Nations since it was evidently as necessary and requisite for the Safety and Grandure of the Kingdom of Spain ut deleatur ist a Carthago as it was for that of England and France from whom a mutual Jealousie which as it ever was could not but be still continued would sufficiently secure Spain to all future Ages from offering any such Violence or making any such Attempts on their Golden and Silver West Indies as would certainly as well as unavoidably be made in less then half an Age upon them by the Republick of Holland If his Catholick Majesty the Emperour and his other Allies should stand so far in their own Light and become guilty of so much Imprudence which could hardly be thought of them as to give any divertion unto
sourdene but with instructions after all their industry if they could not succeed in obstructing the peace yet not to fail to elude it which how well they succeeded in the first for a time and when that could not be warded off no longer how much more fortunate success they have had in the latter I shall endeavour to make your Lordship acquainted with at another time when I hope they may be no less grateful to your Honour's gusto from him who desires to approve himself to be My Lord Your Obedient Servant Paris Octob. 9. 1678. LETTER XXXIII Of the Negotiating a Marriage between the Duke of York and the Princess of Inspruck in Germany How that Match came to be broke off and how the French gain'd their Point in Marrying the Princess of Modena to him My Lord THings continuing in the same posture I mentioned in my last to your Lordship between England and France the latter having the full ascendency over our King and Court to keep them from the Peace with Holland and to enter into a War in Conjunction with the rest of the Confederates against them and the Duke of York happening to be a Widower who was entirely as they thought in their Interests at this time which was the year 1673. there was an Intrigue started up and carried on that in all appearance was â—eady to break the Thread of all their Contrivances and irrecoverably to overturn all they had been so long and with so much pains about but another as lucky a hit interposed timely in their Aid which salved all their drooping Interest in our Court again sounder than ever tho' like the Beast in the Apocalypse it seemed to have received its deadly wound For when a Negotiation was now not only set on foot but in a manner concluded for Matching our Duke with a Princess of the Austrian Family an Alliance which would certainly have broke the neck of all Leagues with France and make England once more the Ballance between those two mighty Powers I say just when a Match was concluded with a Princess of the House of Austria and nothing seemed remaining to the accomplishing of it but celebrating the Espousals and bringing over the Lady into England to remain the gage of a close and lasting Alliance between the Royal Stem of England and that Illustrious and Potent House and the Monsieur at biting his Nails for spite to see his Interest there desperate and past retrieval it most luckily happened to him that in that very interim the Empress died and the Emperor coming to want a Confort and finding no other worthy his Choice according to the usuâ—l practice of the Austrian Families whose Branches intermarry frequently with one another he retain'd the Lady for himself and so defeating our Prince of his Spouse and putting of him in a new quest gave the French an opportunity to prosser him a Female who they knew descended from a right Intriguing Breed and would be sure to do their Work throughly and thereby not only renew but make sure against all Events that Alliance that hath since proved so pernicious to all Europe and so vexatious to the one as well as to the other of our Princes This Match they knew might be of great importance to them not only as to the promoting their Ambitious Ends in England but in Italy too and if they could once ensnare the Duke into it would as fixedly tie him to their Interests as it would infallibly lose him every where else and engage not only the Protestant Subjects of these Kingdoms but even all the other Powers of Christendom as well of the Roman Communion as the Reformed to oppose his future Elevation that so he might be wholly dependant upon them She being a Lady not only Italian by Nation but a Relation of the Pope and in that Quality most odious to England and also of the late Cardinal Mazarine and in a word of a Prince Pensionary to the French and an adopted Daughter of France which last Quality they honoured her with to render her compleatly hateful to all the World besides most liberally paying her Portion Pentioning the King and greasing the Ministers to have the Parliament Prorogued that in the interim the Match might be huddled up with all the precipitation imaginable for fear upon the least delay by contrary Sollicitations from the Austrians or any other Potentates abroad or any black and grumbling Clouds at home the unstable King might be over-persuaded or frighted from letting his Brother go on with that destructive Alliance These my Lord were their Contrivances and Precautions upon this Subject and they succeeded so well in their Endeavours that mauger any Reasons the King might have to the contrary or any Opposition made by some few then about him that Match was concluded from which England may in a very great measure date the commencement of her ensuing Grievances and which according to the Parliament's Prediction of it caused such terrible Earthquakes in the three Nations already and God Almighty alone knows what the dire Effects may be and where things will terminate at long run though it may at the same time prove better than our fears For after it was once done they cared not what Storms it produced amongst us for if the endeavours of an Alliance cemented with so charming a Female unwearied in enticements could not allure nor the sugâ—ed Professions of a constant Amity and Protection besides the powerful Spells of continual Supplies of Money engage sufficiently yet they were confident the troubles it would cause would necessitate him for Self-preservation to keep close to their Interests and to be content perhaps for the preservation of the rest to give them part of his Estates whenever it should succeed and make them Executors of his Will or at least at all Adventures keep up such Divisions as by the care they would take to balance the respective Parties concerned in them would both divert and disable the Nation from exerting their Resentment against them to any great purpose These my Lord were the Improvements they proposed to make by this Match and herewith I shall conlude who am My Lord Your Lordship 's very humble Servant Paris Aug. 30. 1678. LETTER XXXIV Of the Peace made between England and Holland in February 1673 4. The Motives to it and the French Methods to elude it by retaining the Irish still in their Service with our Courts connivence My Lord I Have formerly taken notice to your Lordship of the Methods and Precautions the French used to keep our King from making a Peace with the Dutch-States and how they made it their business to dispossess all those and particularly my Lord Shaftsbury of the King's Ear and Favour who were concerned for His and the Nation 's Interest by promoting such a Peace but though they prevailed therein as well as in that of the Duke's Marriage with a Female of their own chusing yet my Lord you know very well
they failed to stem the Tide that broke in as a consequent upon that Vote of the Commons Octob. 31. 1673. That considering the Condition the Nation was then in they would not take into further consideration any Aids or Charges upon the Subject except it did appear the obstinacy of the Dutch should render it necessary c. For the French Emissaries had taught the King and his Juncto their Lesson to wit to give out that the Dutch were full of Sullenness and Obstinacy and would come to no honourable Terms and therefore there was a necessity of further humbling of them but now the Court of England were as hasty to make up the Peace with Holland as e're they were to declare War against them which was concluded by the 9th of February 1673 4 but though the Dutch came hereby to enjoy Peace with us at Sea yet they found the pernicious Effects of the Valour of the English Troops which continued in the French Armies and gained them several Victories after that Peace till upon the earnest and repeated Instances both of the Foreign Powers concerned and of our own Parliament some redress was given to that Grievance but never a total one a Proclamation being obtained for recalling our Forces from the French Service which yet was construed not to extend to the Irish Nation who after that by that foul connivence of our King not only continued there in Bodies as formerly but drew over Recruits from time to time and were most highly cherished and caressed as indeed were the Irish Nation all along with a sensible difference above the English and Scotch especially when a War was expected with us they having a secret design upon that Kingdom by one Method or other ever since their first drawing our King into League with them which they did not obscurely intimate when by way of encouragement they would now and then say to the Irish Roman Officers among them as likewise to other qualified Gentlemen Travellers of that same Nation That the King their Master had an esteem of them above all other Nations for their Antâ—quity Generosity and Invincible Conâ—â—â—ncy to their old Religion for above a Century of Years after their Masters the English had abâ—ndoned it and that the Scots and the Wâ—eish Britains by the contagion of their Example with sufficient Derogation from their former unviolated Claims to Antiquity and unconquered Liberty had done the like and would assure them from him That the time would come when he would shew them marks of his Esteem by conferring the Hereditary Guard of his own and his Successor's Persons on their Nation instead of the Scots who were now departed from their Interests and that as a Catholick Prince and the Guarantee of their Treaty with King Charles when in Banishment for restoring to them their Estates whenever he should be restored he would see them righted and would one day free them from the Tyranny of the English Nation But notwithstanding all underhand Compliance of our Court with that of France as our Peace with Holland had already displeased them This recalling of our Troops as partially executed as it was quite put them out of humour so that though they durst not shew their Resentments too far for fear of increasing the Evil they fretted at yet they did what they could by allurements to debauch and by hard Usage and all imaginable Discouragements both to deter as many as they could of our Soldiers from paying Obedience to the said Proclamation and to disable those who were fixedly bent to return from being serviceable to their King and Country Among the rest mighty Advantages were offered to my Lord Dowglas afterwards Earl of Dunbarton to intice him to stay and some time after he was gone upon hearing he had no Preferment under his own King by reason of the severity of our Laws against Men of his Perswasion there were very great Rewards proposed to those they thought had any influence over him to perswade him to return and particularly to my self in case I could find any who could so far prevail over him but all in vain yet most of the Irish remained to the last and were very serviceable at the brisk Action of Gyrone and on some other Occasions and after the fear of the War with us was blown over by the Tempest raised among our selves whilst we blinded our Parliament and People by seeming to observe exactly the Articles of Neutrality agreed upon between our King and them they for a long time and even till now have refused to receive any English and Scotch Officers and Soldiers to their Service tho' contrary to their Allegiance to their King and Country several of them and some of them Romans of tried Affection proffered themselves yet still as many Irish as presented themselves were readily entertained And thus My Lord Tho' these subtile Politicians missed of their first point in hindring our Peace with Holland they succeeded but too well in the second through our Court's weakness and base Prevarication which was eluding it by corrupting our Neutrality with such a partiality on their side that it was an Honey-Comb to them whilst it was but a Spunge of Gall and Vinegar to the Confederates but foreseeing that in time this jugling conduct of our King would make all Europe murmur and render his Friendship or Mediation suspicious every where That it would make him odious to his People and blow into a Flame those old jealousies that already began to rekindle and afford ample matter for the Emissaries of the Confederates to work upon in our Nations and consequently to actuate our People so violently to a League with the said Allies against them that it would be impossible for the King with Safety to resist them for of his good Will to them by this time they were pretty confident they therefore were careful to make a timely Provision against an inconvenience so much dreaded by them and to endeavour to make use of those very Jealousies Fears and Animosities whose Effects they apprehended against their Adversaries by dexterously catching them up like Fireworks before they brake and returning them back upon our selves and this difficult sort of Game they managed by several Stratagems of which I have neither room nor opportunity to advertise your Lordship at present but must defer it to a proper season and remain as I truly am My Lord Your very humble Servant Paris July 12. 1678. N. S. LETTER XXXV Of the Marquess de Ruvigni a French Protestant his being sent Embassador into England and what the Politicks of France were therein My Lord I Do not question but your Lordship does remember the first time of the Marquess de Ruvigny's being sent Envoy from this Court into England which was in the Year 1669. and which I think I have in one of my Letters hinted already That he was a Person very capable for such an Imployment none can doubt that knew him but that ever he was
they desired or negotiate a private Treaty with that Prince in their favour and to their advantage with that power and good effect desirable required as they might well imagine more than ordinary Summes of Money and all ready and in Specie too But that if besides his ordinary Allowance according to the Agreement which he expected should be punctually pay'd him every six months he could but have a Summ of a Million of Crowns again seasonably advanced him for Extraordinaries before the time of the next prorogation of the Parliament were expired then he did believe he might bring matters so to bear by such a Reinforcement so as to be able to gain Votes enough even in the Parliament it self to carry it against all others both in respect to the Neutrality and to the gaining their Consent for deferring any Foreign Allyance by way of Marriage of either of his Daughters till a General Peace was concluded and work very much with the Prince of Orange too to comply with their desires when he should see the Parliament gave him no hopes otherwise of compassing his Aims or if not yet at least he should be able hereby to keep himself still strongest in the Privy Council and in the Court where nothing should be transacted to their disadvantage That both his own Friends and theirs had been so very successful and made such wonderful progresses in Conversions of all sorts and Ranks of People as that of such and such Peers of the Realm I will not say your Lordship was one named among the rest such and such Courtiers and Members of Parliament c. that such and such Bishops Eminent Doctors in Divinity and other dignified Clergy and such and such Gentlemen who were remarkable for Interest and Estates or Eminent for exquisite Parts though they have learnt here since there was nothing more false were either already converted and quite brought over or extraordinarily well inclined and that there was no doubt to be made of it but by an augmentation of about four or five hundred thousand Crowns more for the Cause and Interest of Religion they might be able so to dispose of the greater and more noted part of the Conforming Church of England which was the main of their Work as to bring them over to their Religion yea and even to declare for it publickly too as soon as they should be freed from the Fears of the English Mobile and of the Fanatical Sectaries and see a General Peace concluded and the King himself declare for it being back'd with so powerful a Prince as his Most Christian Majesty was that however many of them were already brought over to the French Interest against the Dutch and many more might be so if timely Liberality were offered with many other Allegations set off with Coleman's usual flourishes on the behalf of his Master though he had countermined all before as I have already hinted And lastly that he had once more attacked the King his Brother as to Religion and that with great hopes and that if he could have but Money enough to carry on the Point with the Church of England he questioned not but by that time a General Peace were negotiated his Majesty would be induced to declare too when besides his support abroad from the Most Christian King he should see himself backt by almost all his Royalists then numerous enough in the Nation and so great yea more than a probability of an Accommodation between the two Churches of Rome and England and his potent Brother of France then by the Peace at full Liberty to lend him all needful Help My Lord you see here what little Sincerity there was in all their mutual Proceedings May the Reward be suitable is my unfeigned Wish as it has been already to some But I am My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Devoted Servant Paris Mar. 9. 1680. N. S. LETTER LIII Of King Charles II's urging the French Court for his Remittances according to the private League between them My LORD YOU have heard what pressing Instances His Highness has made for his Remittances according to Agreement and what mighty Encouragements he has given this Court of gaining their Ends both in Court and Parliament And now 't is fit the King should put in his Plea at last which he did in this manner as their Minutes represent it That for his part he had advanced rather more than less Money than he had already received from them for carrying on their Work and that not to enumerate many Particulars he would observe to them that when he saw there was no other Probability of obliging his dear Brother of France in preserving the Neutrality so much desired by him but by Proroguing of his Parliament which they knew well enough was a tender Point That yet not to be wanting to his Brother's Interests and his own Engagements he had adventured so far as even twice to Prorogue them and had withal expended most of his own Moneys in endeavouring if possible against the next Meeting or Session of Parliament to make a Party so as to be able in a Parliamentary Way to over-match his Adversaries and those of the Most Christian King his Brother and not only that but to be in a Condition to support himself during their Recess in the Figure he ought as King of England to make both at home and abroad for his own Advantage as well as that of the Most Christian King 's and so carry on the Work of Mediation between him and the Confederates as his Brother of France would have as likewise the desired Negotiations in Holland to induce the Prince of Orange to a Compliance c. That they could not but know he was much involved in Debts by the last War in Conjunction with them against Holland and other extraordinary Occasions by Troubles arising and fomented chiefly by his adhering to his Brother of France's Interest and that he having Prorogued his Parliament upon his Account and thereby put himself under an absolute Necessity of being deprived of the Legal Assistance of his People it was but very reasonable and just they should advance such a Sum as might enable him not only further to gratifie His Most Christian Majesty's Desires but also to satisfie in part his own extraordinary Necessities and recompence him for the Subsidies he miss'd of thereby again and again from his own Subjects And Lastly He demanded at least such a Re-inforcement as he had before received at the Conclusion of the Treaty with France and that by way of Extraordinary besides his Annuity punctually paid And of this he expected an exact Performance before the besides another Advance at the Beginning of that Session that so he might be able to make his Party good against all Opposers at their next Meeting or else Prorogue them without fear of wanting Money during their Recess And did further insist beside some other Proposals not worth mentioning upon his having Five
the King's Privity or Knowledge 4. That if it were done by the King's Consent the Sum of Five and twenty Millions of Livres should be without fail remitted to him at two Payments the first as soon as the Princess should arrive in the Kingdom of France and the other three Months after And that the King and Duke in that Case should seem highly concerned and disposed to declare War against France on that Account and with the Money sent raise Forces as if it were for the War and call to the Parliament for Mony to maintain it which if they granted to take it there was no doubt of their Consent to that After which the French King was to send a very submissive Embassage to England offering to make ample Satisfaction for the Injury and to strike up a Peace with Holland at any rate Upon which our King was to take upon him to be appeased and to pretend the Dutch were in the fault that he did not make War 5. That then if there should happen any Motions for Exclusion that His Majesty might make use of the Money and of the Forces raised as aforesaid for his own Security And that if any Rebellion happen'd he might be assured the French King would send him both Men and Money enough in case of Need. 6. That if it were done without the King's Consent he the Duke should pretend himself wholly ignorant of the Rape and seem as much concerned as the King for Satisfaction 7. But that if the King should be so displeased with His Highness as to side with the adverse Party against him after he had stood his Ground as long as he could and made as many Friends as was possible that then he should privately retire to Scotland or Ireland and raise Arms there where he should be powerfully assisted both with Men and Money from the French King who would likewise use Means to raise Divisions among his Enemies by several Methods they had concerted and suddenly discourage them all by an unexpected Peace with Holland tho' there was but little Prospect that Things should come to this Extremity 8. That the Princess still the better to appease the Heats in England should upon her Marriage have in ample manner a Protestant Chapel allowed her and that at the same time the Protestants in the Kingdom of France should be used with extraordinary Kindness and Favour for her sake till a general Peace or other fiâ— time to take off the Mask were come 9. That the better to take off the Edge of the English Fury to a War with France besides the Peace to be made between the French and the Dutch a third War was to be raised by the Hollanders against England and they put with might and main upon new Encroachments and Insolencies against the English 10. That the better to cover all this the Duke was not only to make a Semblance but really to go to the Protestant Church again and to give out with a full Cry that he had been most maliciously traduced and that he never was reconciled to the Church of Rome and that his Non-compliance in some things lately put upon him did only arise in that he conceived such things were not to be imposed upon a Prince as on a Subject I have had the Opportunity my Lord to see several other things of lesser Consequence projected here for the Management of this Affair to the Interest of the French Court with which I shall not trouble your Lordship and remain My LORD Your very humble Servant Paris Aug. 13. 1679. N. S. LETTER LIX Arguments used by the French Emissaries in England to the Royal and Church of England Party against the matching of the Lady Mary with the Prince of Orange My LORD THe French Emissaries finding notwithstanding the strong opposition made by them to the matching of the Lady Mary with his Highness the Prince of Orange as I have some time since informed your Lordship that there was a very strong Current in the Nation for that Allyance and having informed their Principals in the French Court therewith they had fresh Instructions sent them to gain if possible the time desired by them which was till a General Peace were concluded and to ply the Royalists and high Members of the Church of England not only close upon that Head but their Instructions were reduced to these Branches 1. They were to represent the Match as dishonourable and too much reflecting on the Honour of Crowned Heads to match a Daughter in so fair a way to be Heiress to three Crowns to a Prince who was not only no Sovereign but descended of a Family which had distinguished it self chiefly by heading a Rebellion against his lawful Prince and who was himself but the chief Officer of a Government so hateful to all Kings as a Common-Wealth and that of one founded by Rebellion too that such an Allyance must needs be more particularly dishonourable to the Royal Family of England which had so lately and deeply suffered by a Rebellion moved against it by their own People chiefly out of an Emulation to be like those Rebels That indeed King Charles I. did match his Daughter to the present Prince of Orange's Father but it was because he was involved in Troubles and had not time or opportunity to dispose of her better and thought by that Match to please the people appease the Faction animated against him and by such a protestant Match allay the Jealousies conceived of his being popishly inclined or having Leagued with popish Powers to their prejudice and lastly obtain some Assistance from the States of Holland in his Distress and yet that after all his projection hereby that Match was condemned by most of his Friends as highly Dishonourable and of very ill Example and Consequence and is charged upon him as one of the great Errours of his Reign and therefore by no means to be reiterated by a new one of the same kind 2. They were to remonstrate That the Prince of Orange was bred in Presbyterian Principles and to exaggerate with all the terrible Circumstances that could be supposed the danger the Church of England and Episcopacy would be in by the accession of such a Prince to the Crown Presbyterians being no less passionate Enemies to the Church of England than Papists and being much the more dangerous of the two as being incomparably the more numerous the strange success they lately had in effecting so total a Subversion as they did of the Episcopal Church in the last Reign under rebellious Leaders being too sensible a proof of both what they could and what they would do again more effectually and more irrecoverably when headed by a lawful Superior and strengthned by the assistance of their Brethren in Holland This my Lord is the substance of the Instructions sent from hence to their Emissaries in England for the managing of the forementioned part and with which I shall conclude this Epistle who am My
inspired into the heads of the most Stirring and Active Members of the House that the Pretence of War against France was only a Court-trick to get Money and a Standing Army to Enslave the Nation and therefore it were not their best way to trust the King with Money for that purpose unless it were at certain moderate Sums and with such Limitations as might Secure them from any Arbitrary Deligns and from Intrigues with the French and at the same time it was Infused with much Artifice into the King's Head That if he once ventured on a War against France without an Unconditional Vote for sufficient supplies and that in very considerable Sums at once as for example of so much yearly as long as the War lasted that he was an undone and lost Man and would by that false step be infallibly unhinged by which Artifices a Declaration of War against France was so long protracted till the Hollanders despairing of any good from England were necessitated to clap up a Separate Peace which the French with all diligence proposed to them whilst the King and Parliament in England were disputing the Case about Funds for the War My Lord I have been necessitated to recapitulate some things here which I remember I have Written a Larger Account of to your Lordship and that because I could not well otherwise have brought in the succeeding part of Mr. Coleman's History who to say nothing of the Duke having effected the foremention'd Divisions Jealousies and Disputes claim'd his Promised Reward of Monsieur Barillon the French Ambassador at London having yet received but one Payment of it but the slie Monsieur finding his Business was so far done that he was able to go on with the rest himself without their assistance put him off at first with Fair Words but Coleman still Renewing his Instances Barillon began to slight his Applications and at last told him in Down-right Terms he had no Orders to Pay him any more Money That he had Receiv'd enough for the Business he had done since there were other Instruments which he had there who had done more and been much more Serviceable in it than himself and in a word That his Master the French King had no further occasion for the Service of such a Sawcy Impertinent and Inconsiderable Fellow as he was Coleman was Netled to the Quick at this Unexpected Treatment which he conceived he had not deserved at their hands and therefore he reply'd again as warmly saying That for his part he had neglected much greater Rewards then what he demanded of him and which was his Iust Due which he might have had from the Confederate Party and that now since he found he was so slighted he should take care to let them see they should find the miss of his Services by what he would and was resolv'd to do for the other side and that he question'd not but to bring the Duke his Master to be quickly of his Mind Barillon thereupon answer'd That his Master would be sure to find them such Imployment in a short time that they should have no leasure to think of serving the Confederates or hunting the French in Flanders having already such a pack of Hounds in a readiness as would quickly snap him and hunt his Master too off his Legs if he did but offer to depart so much from his own Interest as to quit theirs After this mutual Huff Coleman going to take his Leave of Monsieur Barillon the Frenchman retaining still a spice of French Civility came to attend him to the Gate where seeing Coleman's Coach standing right before it Sir said he briskly to him What is the meaning of this that your Coach stands right before my Door that is no place for a person of your mean station and quality That 's strange Monsieur Answer'd Coleman I should be of meaner quality now then I used to be there you know well enough it used to stand But pray where would you have it to stand then continu'd he Two or three doors off cry'd Barillon So indeed said Coleman I used to place it when I went to a Bawdy-house but I did not take yours to be such till now and so adiew It was but a few days after this rencounter my Lord that Coleman was seized for the Popish Plot at the news of which the Discourse was at the French Secretaries that Coleman would certainly pay dear for having adventured to displease the King their Master for that they had perswaded the Conceited Fool to keep his Papers all by him which they flatter'd him were Rare Compositions and Specimens of incomparable Wit and Parts in which they said were things not only enough to hang him out of the way but so to hamper the King and Duke too and involve them in such Troubles that they would be glad to quit all their thoughts of leaning towards the Confederates and so return again to their interests at last as most expedient for them and that they had imployed such Tools as would not fail to Discover all their Inttigues and be in spight of their Teeth forc'd to acts of Repentance and sorrow for what they had done And in fine when Coleman was Condemn'd and the Duke would have interpos'd for a Pardon for him Monsieur Barillon oppos'd it Tooth and Nail and said He ought to be Sacrificed upon that occasion and that if he were not the King his Master would find means to have a worse Discovery made than all that had yet been made to appear out of his Papers or otherwise After Coleman was Hang'd his Wife reduc'd to a forlorn state retir'd into France and presented a Petition to the French King to this effect That whereas her late Husband besides his many other good and timous services done to his most Christian Majesty had upon his instances by his Minister at London hired an House in Deans-yard in Westminster of a considerable Rent some time before that Session of Parliament wherein the matter of a War against the Kingdom of France was to be debated and agitated for the better convenience of Treating some Members of Parliament and some other Gentlemen that had influence over them That he had expended considerable Sums of Mony that way as he had done in like manner among other useful instruments he had in the Country as well as the City for promoting his Majesties Service in England for which he had declined much greater Rewards from the Spanish Imperial and Dutch Ministers and other Agents than he expected or desired from him whom he served more by inclination than Interest and that he had had the good Fortune happily to effect the great task imposed on him by his most Christian Majesties Commands in dividing the King of England and his Parliament and breaking the neck of the intended War against France that yet for all that when his work was accomplish'd Monsieur Barillon had refused to pay him his expences and never had given him one
him to see the Prince and thus Matters stood when the late King died but the Brother succeeding he set all his Engines on work how he might get the Duke of Monmouth into his Clutches Dead or Alive But the French Agents my Lord did not think that now their Interest which in the late Reign they would have given any Money to have effected and therefore by their Correspondents in Holland they got the Duke secretly Advertised of the Danger who thereupon withdrew to Bruxels I know my Lord they gave it out that the Prince of Orange by his Favourite Monsieur Bentink got the Duke made acquainted therewith and that he gave him Money to go to Bruxels it was both Honourably and Charitably done of him if it was so to a distressed Gentlemen with an intent to make the King his Father-in-law more irreconcileable to him now he was King then when Duke of York tho' he was to dissemble it for a time and upon his Accession to the Throne to testifie to the Prince the sincere desire he had to live with him rather as a Father then an Ally and Neighbouring King I have had sufficient Experience my Lord of your great Honour Integrity and good Affection which makes me thus bold in a matter so nice at this time and so concludes My Lord Your humble Servant Paris March 17. 1685. N. St. LETTER III. Of King James's being Crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury My Lord IT has been a matter of much discourse and reflection here that our King should be Crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and not by one of the Roman Communion it was expected that since he had begun so briskly and openly to declare Himself for Rome that he would not have stuck at being Inaugurated by a Roman Bishop I find by the return made hither upon this Subject that his inclinations were violent enough for the latter but that the Reason of his Non-compliance was that having at his assumption of the Crown declar'd to the Council and by them to his People That he would maintain the Church and State of England as by Law Establish'd and that the Ceremony of his Coronation was such as the Laws of the Land did prescribe The thought it was a little two Early to begin and that by so publick an Act which to be sure would be interpreted not only as the most manifest Violation of the National Constitution but the Preludium to a despotick Power which no man knew the end of I shall not trouble your Lordship with a Repetition of the Arguments used here by the Gentlemen of the Roman Church pro and con upon the Lawfulness and Unlawfulness of such a Compliance by a Catholick King to the Church of England which tho the Establish'd one they look upon to be false to the Truth as being matters which I suppose your Lordship cares not for and therefore having nothing further wherewith to entertain you that is worth Transmitting I conclude subscribing my self My Lord Your Honours most humble Servant Paris May 6. 1685. N. S. LETTER IV. Of the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Argyle's Invasions and Overthrows and of the Prince of Orange's offering to serve against the former but his offer was Malitiously Interpreted and so Rejected My Lord THE Reason of my long silence to your Lordship I hope will not be interpreted by you as any forgetfulness much less neglect of your Honours Commands and Expectation I am too sensible of the many Obligations that have been heap'd upon me from time to time to be guilty of so Notorious a Crime but the want of somewhat that was Solid and Grateful to your Lordship has been one genuine Cause that obstructed my Correspondence to which I may add what your self knows very well the private Orders given in England to open all Letters whether Domestick or Foreign and since I had for so long a time continu'd to write to your Lordship and that undiscover'd I was not willing for want of a little prudent caution and suspension in such a juncture either to expose your Lordship to any hazard or thereby for ever to exclude my self from any farther Correspondence with you whom I so much Love and Honour But now my Lord understanding that the Storm is over in England by the defeat and death of the Duke as we have had some days ago an Account from Scotland of the like misfortune to have attended the Earl of Argyle I have adventured to Salute you with these Lines and to tell my thoughts freely upon the matter I must confess I never had any great opinion of either of the Expeditions because concerted by Men who had very different ends in what they did the Duke and some others for Monarchy but the greatest part Republicans and therefore I do not wonder the whole hath miscarried especially when I can assure your Lordship both the one and the other were tho' very privately Abetted by French Agents to undertake such an Expedition such a procedure may well be wondred at I confess since there was apparently so little advantage like to arise to the French Court therefrom but besides their loving to fish always in Troubled Waters they have somewhat in them that is very like the Devil who loves to do Mischief tho' with no benefit to himself But whatever the World may think hereof those who are fled that escaped from either Kingdom after the Defeat are as kindly received here as those who formerly fled from the Popish Conspiracy but yet they are daily sifted and examin'd by the Spies that continually haunt them I would gladly know might I have the honour your Lordship's Sentiments of both Descents and the Miscarriage of them to be plain with you I own I have very different apprehensions of them now they are over than I had at first and the rather because the Prince of Orange so much resented it tho' most Maliciously interpreted by the King and his Popish Council whetted on by Gallican Agents When the Prince had the first News of the Duke's Landing in England he acquainted Mr. Skelton the King's Ambassador that the Duke of Monmouth though he were a Person but of indifferent Parts yet he had a Warlike Genius and had more Experience and Skill in the Art of War then most of them employ'd against him That for his part if the King his Father-in-Law pleased he would assist him not onely upon that occasion with his Troops but with his Person also and to that end was sending Mr. Bentinck over to England to know the King's pleasure But Skelton malevolent enough of himself and farther influenc'd with Malice against the Prince by French Incendiaries took care to inform the King before Bentinck came that such Assistance as was proposed by the Prince was very dangerous and much to the same purpose so that upon Mr. Bentinck's Motion the King answered That their Common Interest required that the Prince should stay in Holland and gave such
Interest as I mentioned to your Lordship in my my last have failed tho' he were briskly seconded therein by the Lord Marquess of Powis the Pope's Nuntio and Emperor's Minister whose Reasons or rather Remonstrances to the King upon that Head for want of better Intelligence I shall at present take notice of to your Lordship as entred in our Minutes and which indeed were such that 't is a wonder he should withstand them sed quem Deus 1. They prest it very home upon him That such a War against the States of Holland could not be attempted with any apparent Advantage to his Majesty without a junction with the French Power which yet in all human Probability would never enable him to conquer those Provinces since both the Crown of Spain and the Emperor nay the Empire would be obliged to protect them to war with whom especially with Spain whose Trade as he well knew was most beneficial to England of any in the World would be attended with such manifest Disadvantage as all the Power of France were that King a faithful Ally would never be able to make the Nation amends for and that supposing he should be able to conquer the said Republick by the Assistance of the French Arms yet to conquer it by French Force would necessarily but make himself as well as that Nation a Tributary and Underling of France 2. That in all likelihood a War with Holland and against the House of Austria would disgust his Subjects and set them all against him yea and perhaps move some hot Spirits to form Designs to dispossess him of his Throne or at least so far to make Opposition as to knock on the Head all his fine Projects for the Advancement of his own Religion in England and engaging of his very Catholick Subjects against him 3. That if his Majesty intended the re-establishment of the Catholick Faith in England it was to be considered that the same was a Work of Time and required great Moderation but that they were sure the hot and furious Methods of France and the Jesuits would never effect it 4. That to them for the effectual bringing about of the said Work there seemed a kind of necessity that he should stay till the Discords between the Catholick Princes were so far appeased as to be without Danger of breaking out in a long Time for that all their Concurrence would be found to be little enough to enable him to accomplish his Ends therein 5. That if he should chuse rather to enter into a strict Allyance with the House of Austria against the French he would thereby render himself secure of his People's Hearts and Affections of the Dutch Naval Force to strengthen him at Sea as occasion required and of all the other Allies Forces to divert the French Armies by Land And that if he should lose upon that account as 't was likely any Remittances from France they assured him the Pope would allow him a much better Pension to countervail it and that being engaged against France his People would be so intent against the French and upon that War so agreeable to their Inclination that they would not be so very jealous of and so prying into the Advances he should make in the Change of Religion at Home and that if by that means than which nothing could be thought on more feasible he could not settle that Religion he might at least secure it and make Matters easie to those of his own Perswasion 6. That if his Majesty persisted to make War against Holland which would inevitably draw on one with the House of Austria if his Arms did not prevail so far as to come to an entire Conquest he was certainly ruined and all the Catholicks in the three Kingdoms along with him without resource and would perish unpitied and without any Hopes or possibility of Succour from any Catholick Princes but the French King alone and that if on the contrary as it was the most unlikely thing in the World he should prevail to a Conquest over Holland and his own Country that yet thereby he should under the colour of an imaginary establishment of the Catholick Religion in the Brittish Kingdoms but settle an irreligious Tyrant over all Christendom worse to the Catholick Religion and Christianity in general than any Heretick in the World nay than the very Turk himself and who would insolently trample upon the Pope's as well as his Fellow Princes Power and set up a new Empire and a new Religion of a third sort neither Catholick nor Protestant but such as suited with his own ambitious Designs as the Steps he had already made that way did sufficiently declare And so instead of resettling the Roman Catholick Religion where it had lost Ground and in the Soil of Great Britain which would prove but a Quick-Sand to it he would destroy it all over Europe where it was now established in terra Firma c. I le leave it to the Decision of your Lordship's Judgment whether these or the French Remonstrances carried most of Reason Probability and Truth in them as I ever shall all that comes from My Lord Your Honours most humble and obedient Servant Paris Apr. 30. 1688. LETTER XXXVIII Of the Differences continued between the Pope and the French King and of King James sending am Embassador to Rome to reconcile them My Lord I Have already transmitted to your Lordship the Contents of his Holiness's Letters to the French King about the Regale and Franchises but there seems now to be a Disposition in these two high stomach'd Princes to come to an accommodation and the Conjuncture of Time lies so to the Heart of this Court that I am apt to believe they will precipitate an Agreement however because their forwardness therein might be disguised as much as French Policy could effect they have by their Agents insinuated to our King That an Embassy to Rome from him about accommodating of the foresaid Differences must be very grateful to his Holiness who paid more deference to his Majesty and would further regard his Mediation than any Prince in Christendom and that tho' the French Court stood very stiff upon their Rights yet it was not to be doubted but as they had so high a Valuation for his Friendship at all Times and Occasions so he might be confident that in so critical a Juncture of Time they would not be so purblind as not to see wherein their true Interest consisted It was no sooner my Lord proposed to the King but accepted by him and my Lord Howard is already arrived in this Kingdom in his Way to Italy as the King's Embassador extraordinary on this Errand but notwithstanding this Court has so far prevailed by their Artifices in England to procure the Kings Mediation yet an Accident if it may be called so has lately happened at Rome which may perhaps blast all the blooming Hopes entertained from this mighty Negotiation For Monsieur Lavardin Embassador from
Dominions that were Romdâ—-Catholicks and especially Frenchmen would wound his Reâ—â—tation very deep and quite alienate the Nations Affections from him and be a confession of all the Rumors which had been seatter'd abroad of a private League made between him and France for oppressing both the Liberty and Religion of his Country And besides the King had Forces enough of his own and to spare for the resisting of all the Efforts of Holland That his Fleet alone was able to stop them and that let it be as it would his Land Army could not fail of being Conquerors over them being both much more numerous and withal better disciplin'd had entirely fixed him in the said Resolution I do not question but this Court will do the Earl all the Disservice they can for spoiling so brave an opportunity of their getting â—ooting with their Troops in England however he has served his Country and deserves well of it whatever his Fate may be I am My Lord Yours in all humble Observance Paris Nov. 2. 1688. N. S. LETTER XLIX Of Mr. Skelton's Negotiations in France with the Reasons of his being recoeli'd and committed Prisoner to the Tower of London My Lord I Cannot conceive but they are as much in the dark with you about Mr. Skelton's Imprisonment in the Tower upon his arrival in England as they are concern'd for it here I have already given your Lordship an account of some of his Negotiations both in Holland and at this Court and with your Honour's leave shall endeavour a little further to unriddle this Mystery of his Imprisonment When all the Arguments of this Court used by Monsieur Bonrepos to induce the King to admit of some French Troops into his Country under pretence of assisting him against the Prince of Orange were obviated by my Lord S 's Remonstrances and Assiduities you cannot conceive the concernedness that appeared here at the grand Disappointment Mr. Skelton was almost oppress'd with Enquirers into the reason of such a Procedure not knowing well then from what Quiver the Arrow was taken that shot down the Goliah of all their Hopes of once nestling in England who examin'd interrogated him and almost laid it to his charge that their Advice was not follow'd But having at length found it to be otherwise they resolved to put him upon another Expedient mention'd first by himself to serve his Master as they said tho' nothing is more certain than that it is their own Interest they design'd mainly thereby For one day after Monsieur de Croissy had prest him hard still to sollicite his Master to accept of the Troops and Ships offered him by France and that Mr. Skelton answer'd That it was in vain he having Orders to meddle no further in that matter and therefore durst not move in it He also added That yet he was of Opinion that if his most Christian Majesty would order his Ambassador to acquaint the States-general what share he took in the Affairs of the King his Master and to threaten to attack them in case they undertook any thing against him he did believe that would quickly put a stop to the intended Invasion and spoil the Measures the Prince of Orange had concerted thereupon without giving the English occasion to complain their King had called in Foreigners into their Country That this would be an effectual means to keep part of the King's Enemies on this side the Sea and they might have leisure enough to break off the Cabals which the other formed at home against him This Discourse made Monsieur de Croissy hasten to acquaint the King with it who liked it so well that he immediately dispatched away a Courier to Monsieur the Count d'Avaux his Ambassador at the Hague with Orders to declare to the United Provinces That they could not attack the King of England who was so intimate a Confederate with him but that he must be obliged to succour him with all the Assistance he could The States having paused a little for an Answer to this Memorial and presently upon it being encounter'd with another from the Marquess de Albeville the English Ambassador there they answered the latter They were long since convinced of the League between the two Kings That they had armed in Imitation of other Princes c. which being interpreted here that the States were resolved to go on with the Invasion It raised the Expectations of this Court that the tender of their Troops would be still accepted of by the King But the vigilance and sagacity of my Lord S disjointed also this Project and ended in the Recalling and Imprisonment of Mr. Skelton for moving in an Affair for which he had no Orders And this also my Lord has stopped Verace the Genevese whom I have formerly mentioned to your Lordship who is come to Paris from proceeding on his Journey for London as supposing it to no purpose to give such Informations as would not be regarded and he is now I hear about returning back to his own Country I hope things are well with your Lordship in these times of difficulty had it been otherwise I do suppose I should have heard it that I might have stopped my Intelligence and that all may continue to be well with you is the unfeigned Desire of My Lord Your Lordships most obedient Servant Paris Nov. 8. 1688. N. S. LETTER L. Of the Prince of Orange's landing in England and Success with King James's Speech to his Chief Officers My Lord THo' the French Arms this year have had mighty success on the Rhine yet the landing of the Prince of Orange in England without any opposition and the success he has met with since his arrival together with the desection of some Horse to him under my Lord Cornbury tho' they say here but a very small number has damped all their Rejoycings And indeed if we may judge of their Hearts by their Looks we may see plainly that they have given over not only their own Game on that side of the Water for lost but that they look upon that of the Kings so too almost beyond all hopes of recovery but yet that they may make some semblance of Zeal still for his Service their Creatures have advised him to call together his chief Officers and to tell them That he had given Orders for the calling together of a Free Parliament as soon as a more setled time would give him room to hope for such That he had resolved to provide for the Security of the Religion Liberties and Privileges of his Subjects as far as they themselves could desire or wish for Could there any more he expected from him he was ready to grant it but desired if after all this there was any one dissatisfied that they might declare it That he was ready to give unto such as thought not fit to tarry with him Pasports to go to the Prince of Orange and that he would freely pardon them their shameful Treason This Speech and the effects
unprovided The Duke forward enough before but now quite overcome by these pretences became their most earnest Sollicitor anew to the King but tho' he neglected nothing in that case that a Prince of that great influence over his Brother could do to bring him over to consent to the Measures concerted between the French and him He found him still inflexible and averse to a War not out of any disaffection to the Cause but out of a love to ease and a Principle of Fear as I have formerly hinted to your Lordship Upon which the French Council proceeded to their last Master Stroak in this business resolving in case they succeeded not therein in spite of all hazzards to take the opportunity of joyning with Holland to Invade and Conquer England if possible To this end they had all along managed a close Treaty with Holland even while they were endeavouring one in England by the powerful Negotiation of their Friends the De Wits and Lovestein Faction So then still the more to rouse up our King's Resentments or to Force him to make appear to the World that he had indeed none neither for his own Royal Dignity and Honour nor for the Honour or Interest of his Relations and Kingdoms nay not so much as a sense of the preservation of any of them from Dangers tho' never so visible so present and so fatal to all and every of them they put the De Wits on all the efforts they could to keep down the most Ancient and Illustrious Family of Nasâ—aw under the specious pretences of the danger of the Liberty the Commonwealth might one day run from the suspitious Greatness of that House so well deserving of them especially if ever it were so Fortunate as to mount the Throne of Great Britain their incompatible Rival in Naval Power and Trade and with whom by reason of their near Relation to that Crown that House could not but by Inclination and Interest have such a Correspondence as must needs render it imprudent and unsafe in the States to admit the present Prince into the same Honours and important Charges in that Juncture which his Ancestors in the Infancy of the Commonwealth had enjoyed and exercised so much to their Advantage and accordingly what Steps were made by those two Ministers to keep the Prince of Orange from the Possession of the Ancient Honours and Priviledges of his House is too well known to need mention Which Design being thus set on foot by those Ministers the French still the more eagerly to incite them to pursue their Point insinuated to them That the only way to expect the full Accomplishment of their Desires in the total Destruction of that Family would be to cause a new War to be declared against England upon the plausible Pretences and Encouragements before mentioned in which Juncture the People of Holland who in the Prince his Fathers time had begun to conceive an Umbrage of that Family would be the more easily brought to consent to what remained to the utter Depriving and Disinabling them to aspire to any Greatness that might be above their Pity and that by the potent and auspicious Assistance of the French Monarch in that War the States coming to overpower so gloriously their Rival in Trade and to acquire a Possession of so great a share of the British Dominions â—s was projected between them and as they would in all appearance under the Eavour of that present Conjuncture not fail to attain to they the De Wits by procuring the States so â—easonable and powerful an Assistance and pushing them on to a War that should end with so much Glory and Advantage to them would quite â—ulipse the great Services and Merits of the Nassovian and Orangian Heroes in the earlier Years of the Republick and give the said De Wits opportunity by degrees to raise their own Family to the same if not much greater Honours and Priviledges then those that had been so long enjoyed by that illustrious House in which addeth they you may be assured that from time to time you shall never want the friendly Offices and most efficacious Assistances of our invincible Monarch who is no less Constant Generous and Magnificent in his Resentments towards his Allies and Friends then he is Formidable and Inflexible in those towards his Enemies In fine they soothed these miserable ambitious Ministers to that degree and acted that Sham-Treaty with Holland by their means so to the Life that the States not doubting but they were in earnest made all the forward Steps imaginable towards the Alliance proposed and began to Arm by Sea not minding how careless a Posture they left all their Places by Land as dreaming of nothing from France but Friendship and Assistance And accordingly that Faction having with all the Heat and Diligence imaginable concerted and concluded a Treaty with the French Ambassador he like a sly Gamester wheedled them to sign their part in it and sent it forthwith as privately to his Master who said he would not fail immediately to answer them with a Counter-Change telling them that by this means they should shew a great deference to his Dignity and the Figure he made in Europe and testifie their great Confidence in him then which nothing could be more obliging to a Crowned Head especially to him who much more then any other Prince valued himself upon his Honour and Integrity and besides would contribute much to the success of the great Enterprise they were joyntly to go upon because by this means their common Design would be most dexterously concealed from the English Court whom his Master said he amused all this while with a sham-Alliance and hopes of making Peace with you for them c. And so keeping them from Arming for their Defence and so afterwards be executed with such a surprising Celerity on them that they should sooner see the Dutch Fleet on their Coasts and the French Troops on their Land then hear of them The Stratagem took and the Instrument of the said Treaty was with all expedition sent ready Signed by the said Faction to the great Monsieur who promised speedily to answer the Ceremony on his side And now the De Wits and their Party were Cock-a-hoop and were already in hopes sharing their part in the projected Spoil and Division of the English Monarchy when the more politick Monsieur having brought them into the Snare he had laid for them instead of sending back and Signing a Counter-change of the said League to them sent it secretly to his Embassador in England with Orders privately to shew it our King that he might by that be convinced what advances the People he was so hard to be perswaded to wage War with had made to attack him and his Kingdoms as they had already insulted his Person Honour and Relations And how affectionate his Master was to his Majesty who was ready to depart from all the Advantages he might prudentially hope to reap by such an
he would advance towards it and so in one Action put a glorious and happy end to the War to the inestimable advantage of the two Kings and the saving much Time Blood and Treasure being unwilling so precious and irrecoverable an opportunity should be lost both for his Brother and himself of subduing that Seven-headed Hydra of Faction and Rebellion that Republick so hateful and adverse to Kings by one lopping off with an expeditious blow for want of complying with so rare an offer of Providence he was resolved to follow the Call of Heaven and Victory but withal did assure them on the Word of a great King and the Honour he so much valued himself upon that his Brother their Master had no reason to take umbrage nor should have cause to conceive any regret at that demarch of his for that his reason for attacking it was that his Arms were there ready to lay hold of the opportunity and their Masters was not and his intention in taking it was only to keep it for him till a convenient Garrison might be sent from England to take Possession of it when he would with all sincerity render it to him undamaged and without poling or peeling the Inhabitants whom he should always consider as the Subjects of his Brother of England and Ally And if that Answer would not content them than to Reply that what he designed was too necessary and of too much importance for both Kings and particularly for their Master that if he were not imposed upon or were but rightly informed of his own Interest in that Expedition he would be so far from opposing it that he would rather incourage him to it and therefore could give no other return to their Instances but desire them either to wait for an Answer to the Premises from their Master or go home and report what he had Remonstrated not doubting but his Envoy whom he had sent to England since their coming would by that time they returned have so well satisfied his Majesty that he would perfectly acquiess in the Resolutions he had taken for both their Profits return him thanks for the same and fully repose in the sincerity he had always found in him And therefore assuring himself as much of his Majesties approbation of what he designed upon his better information of it he should without losing any time push on his Advantage while he might and as for the Envoy he sent for England they advised him he should be dispatch'd away immediately upon the Councils rising with the Instructions they should then concert before another Audience were given to our Embassadors that he might have time to tell his Tale first before any Letters or Advise could come from ours Alas said they this Embassage is none of the King of Great Britain ' s doings but a meer force put upon him by the importunity of some Popular Grandees whom he dares not displease for fear of the People let Your Majesty but send a Sop to them to take off their mouthing and then ply the King with the usual Flatteries and Protestations and the forementioned pretences of promises seasoned with a little Salt of Peru and you need not doubt but his Credulity and Indigency is great enough to swallow the Bait And as for what he may fear from those Popular Men it may be suggested that the taking of that Town only will break the neck of their Faction and when it should be put into his hands which if he durst confide in a Prince whom he had reason to believe by the uncontestable proofs he had given him just before the War of his inviolable Friendship for him should be as he promised it would quiet all mutining Spirits again in a moment he is Credulous enough said they to believe shams less artificial and less alluring than these and if after all our Flatteries should not prevail alone our Menaces will for tho' he be a little fearful of the Resentments of his People for cleaving to us he is more of us for he fears their Hate yet durst not trust their Affection whereas he durst not provoke our Hate but trust our Friendship as the only private fence we have taught him to think he has against their Discontents And therefore a final threatning from your Majesty telling him if he knows not his own Interest your Majesty knows it will hector him out of any stiffness the fear of them may put him upon against your designs at least Tho' you cannot with his Embassadors here you may by yours with him prolong the Contest long enough to gain time sufficient to effect your Work For those Inhabitants soon growing out of hopes of Succour from England as well as Germany they will relapse into a more violent Fit of despair than ever and yield After whose acquisition it will be easie for your Majesty to banter the English out of their pretences or should they be so fool-hardy as to assert them by Arms it will be easie for your Majesty to beat them off the seas and make their Country the next Stage of War when Germany Spain and Italy deprived once of the Low-Country passages tho' never so concerned at the Spectacle would not be able to help them And therefore your Majesty continued they need not be awed by any fear of disobliging them for taking in what places by Arms or pollicy you can especially this on which so much depends the Conquest of the rest which once accomplished when the English shall demand the share allowed them by the Treaty and by your Majesties repeated Promises what plausible banter will it be to tell them they have little reason to expect a share in the acquisition of others who when they might have made none themselves but rather have been prejudicial to the Common Interest by their unseasonable and unreasonable divisions of and in which c. said they we have sown such seeds as cannot fail production and in their great Council of Parliament c. That the true purport of the Treaty was only Conditional allotting each Party such and such a share in the Countries projected to be Conquered upon supposal that they should attack and subdue each of them their respective proportion and therefore that it was ridiculous in them to pretend a claim who had made no Conquest not so much as of any one place and had been so far from landing on the Enemy that they had not done their duty at Sea And in fine added they to compleat the Farce how specious a Conclusion will it be to assure them however that your Most Christian Majesty to manifest to them how religiously punctual you are to your promises will take no advantage of their failures or their Misfortunes but provided they will give your Majesty a reasonable consideration for the Expences of Blood and Treasure you have been at in the taking and keeping of them for them in a tenable condition you are ready to order them Livery and Seizing
has been as it were dubious in the World to this day for little did the Councellors of State and other Princes and Grandees at the Court of Vienna think that those very Jews who sold them Jewels Pearl and other rich Moveables were wont at the same time to bring and carry Letters to the forementioned Prince Lohkowitz and other vile Traytors to the Emperor and Empire and though these sort of Vermin have been banished the Emperor's Territories and Dominions yet for filthy Lucre-sake to which they are addicted above any Nation or People under Heaven and to serve the French whom above any other they value for the Reasons I have formerly given your Lordship upon another occasion They make no scruple of assuming those Shapes which they outwardly would most seem to abhor and whose Principles they have disbeliev'd above these Sixteen hundred years I mean Christians and to this day drive on the old trade But our private minutes relating to this Country and which I have had the opportunity lately a little to inspect tell us positively That at least two of the Emperor 's own Confessors of the Iesuitical Order the much more dangerous Traytors than any other could be were guilty of the same Crime The next year after the Disgrace of this Prince happened that memorable Success the Emperor's Forces had upon the Rhine against the French but it is no less memorable after such a signal Victory against the Mareshal de Crequi c. that Montecuculi the Imperial General should after he had besieged Sabern and was in a fair way to carry the Place so suddenly rise from before it re-pass the Rhine with his whole Army and leave the French after all wholly in possession of Alsatia where he might easily have Wintered his whole Army The World were then and have ever since been occasionally very busy about the reason of this Action which is very unaccountable to this very day It was whispered then that Montecuculi was so far from offering to do this of himself that he had express orders from the Emperor or at leastwise from Vienna to do it and which he obeyed with a great deal of reluctancy and ill-will but little have the World thought that it was chiefly the influence which Father la Chaise had over the Emperor's Confessor that produced those positive though most noxious Orders so far the Minutes mention that Affair and no farther I would not have troubled your Lordship with these Foreign Affairs had I been supplied with any that was domestick though I hope they are not so unacceptable but that you will freely pardon him who is desirous to serve and honour you to the utmost of my power and remain My Lord Your humble Servant Paris June 20. 1678. N. St. LETTER XXXVII Of the French Ambassador's the Mareschal d'Estrades and Monsieur Colbert's Instructions to attack Sir William Temple and Pensioner Fagell to engage the Prince of Orange into the French Interests and to promote the Peace My Lord THis Court have left no Stone unturn'd neither in England nor Holland in order to the winning of the Prince of Orange over to their Interests but they have met with more constancy in him than could be expected from a young Prince of his years which has plainly manifested him to be an Inheritor as well of the Vertues as of the Fortune of his great Ancestors and when they found there was nothing to be done with him directly by any of their own Emissaries they resolved to attack him in the most sensible part by the Ministry of two persons whom they knew he as much valued as any other on this side and they were the English Ambassador Sir William Temple and Monsieur Fagell Pensionary of Holland Their Agents in this hopeful business were Monsieur Colbert and the Mareschal d'Esâ—rades their Plenipotentiaries for the Treaty of Nimeguen who quickly began their attack upon Sir William according to the Instructions I find they had given them I. To insinuate slily what a value the French King their Master had for his Person and Character and that therefore during the course of the Negotiation they were to enter upon they had Orders to make their application to him That they knew how much he was in the confidence of the King his Master and of his chief Ministers and therefore how filly qualified he was to put the finishing-stroke to a Treaty he had had the greatest hand to set on foot and of which he must needs reap all the Glory That he might reckon very much upon the facility of the King their Master in that weighty Affair but yet so far still as to have a just regard had to the great Successes of his Arms during the War II. They were to make a Mien of their being fully possest of the States great forwardness to strike up a Peace which their Allies must comply with tho' they might for a time retard it That therefore the only way they could see for to give Europe Tranquillity was for the Prince of Orange to interpose his Authority which was so great with all the Allies that they were very well satisfied in their willingness to agree to whatever terms he should be resolved on in proposing the Peace That therefore in order to bring that grand affair to an happy and sudden issue it was their Opinion there was no other or better way for it than for his Highness first privately to agree with France upon the Conditions and what each Party's Proposition should be and when that was once done afterterwards in the course of the Treaty which was to be supposed could not spin out to any great length of time then to draw all matters by concert together to the scope agreed upon between them III. To seem very confident this Method would do but that if it should so happen that the unreasonable pretences of the Allies should obstruct or delay a General Peace that then the Prince might make use of the usual Temper of the States to bring it to a sudden issue and make a separate Peace that if the Prince pursued this method it would be in his power to do great things for himself and his Family for which they were to produce as many instances as they could of parallel cases And that as for what concerned the Prince's own personal Advantages and Interests the King their Master had given them full power to assure him That he might set down his own Conditions and they should be accepted IV. That tho' they had many others to make these Overtures to his Highness some whereof they were also darkly to intimate yet that they were to pursue their Master's Orders which was to apply themselves to none but to him if he thought fit to charge himself with it That they were very sensible of the Credit and Confidence he was in with his Highness and how much deference he had to his Judgment in what concerned the publick Interests of the Allies
of Spain with the Emperor's Daughter was put by and that with the Duke of Orleans's Daughter effected and that he was going to act mighty things for the French Interest for which he had large Promises made him of their powerful and effectual Assistance to obtain the Crown of Spain for himself after the Decease of the present King upon condition he should quit the Spanish Dominions in the Indies Low-Countries and Italy to the Crown of France for the performance of which they had sufficient Assurances from him I am further to observe to your Lordship from the said Minutes That they have attributed his Death to a Dose of Poison administred by the order and particular prescription of the Queen-Mother and that out of a fear she had he would one day Poison the King her Son and because he had against her Will been the instrument to make the French Match They further add how true the one or the other I will not take upon me to determine That the Queen Mother's hatred to Don John was inveterate that she had attempted once before to have Stab'd him and at another time to Pistol him As for the fore-mentioned Letter from the King of Spain to stop the Don's passage for Messina they say it was sent by the Instigation of the Duke de Medina Celi then in the French Faction with an intent to make him miss that stroke and secure him in their Interests by letting him know that it was by their Intreague he was admitted to Court I could further enlarge upon this subject did I judge it pertinent or agreeable to your Lordship's humour as I am affraid it is not and therefore I remain My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and devoted Servant Paris July 2 1679. N. S. LETTER XL. Of General Instructions given to the French Agents in England to carry on the French Designs upon the Duke of York's Second Marriage My Lord THo' the French Agents in England have had address enough to get the Match with the Duke effected according to their Desires yet foreseeing that even this point could not elude the Peace between England and Holland they endeavoured to make the best advantage they could by making a Counterpoise of it to the said Peace and to a War we might afterward intend against them as having thereby linked the Duke faster to them than ever and laid a sure foundation for such Distractions both in Church and State as would give them large opportunity if not to compass all the Designs they had upon us yet at least to secure themselves from any great inconveniency from us They were not ignorant what good effects several previous Intreagues of theirs had to our disadvantage they saw plainly the second Dutch War had much more impoverished us than the First and the ill conduct of it much more sunk the King's Reputation besides the Divisions in the Fleet and the Jealousies and Factions in the Parliament and among the People about the Duke's Religion produced him great disgusts every day That the shutting up of the Exchequer had ruined his Credit and his Majesty in proclaiming Liberty of Conscience by Virtue of his own Prerogative and his levity afterward in flinching from it so unexpectedly had so disobliged and wounded with Jealousie the Church of England and all Patriots in Parliament tender of their Priviledges who held the Peoples Purse-strings on the one side and so incensed with a fresh Animosity the baffled Dissenters on the other that being over-whelmed with Debts opposed by dangerous and powerful Factions and yet Bankrupt both of Money and Credit too they fairly concluded he could have no other recourse but to them which odious remedy they supposed would but more and more heighten the mutual Jealousies and widen the Breaches till they grew large enough for them to enter by at long-run upon some part of the English Monarchy so famous hitherto for checking theirs above any other in Europe since the Decadency of the Western Empire from rising to the like exorbitant greatness And now this more than Magical Dose these Quacks in Policy had given us began to work every day more and more violently and with Symptoms more visible till almost mortal Convulsions followed The ablest Statesman we had at the Helm the Earl of Shaftsbury was discarded for his vehemency in opposing the said so pernicious Match of which I may give your Lordship an account another time and others of the same Sentiments discountenanced which by the French Agency begat the Prorogation of the Parliament dangerous Factions and pernicious Fractions even among the most zealous Assertors of Monarchy and best affected Friends to the Royal Family so that now imagining this Master-experiment of theirs had made way for them to execute what Projects they pleased on our Court and People for the future to lose no advantage for want of Managers they began to put their Designs in form which before lay somewhat perplext and out of order to which end they sent over their Instructions to some Domestick Agents whom they had chosen and placed on purpose about the New Dutchess and to their other assisting Ministers and Emissaries as they thought in that disposition of both Head 〈◊〉 Body of both Princes and People 〈…〉 could not but succeed and produce in due time the full effects by their Mischief-Brooding and Ambitious Consultations And their Instructions in substance were as follows They were now to make actual use of the several Parties they had as I have hinted already but as yet prepared to make Tools of and to this purpose they were to influence them partly by French Jesuited Instruments partly by French Hugonot Agents and of our own Nation their Instruments were to be I. Atheists and loose principled Men who yet could act rarely well the Zealots for that Religion or Cause which they were to Espouse II. Such Persons as they found to be conceited of their Parts and of Mercenary Spirits III. Hotspurs for Prerogative and the Church of England IV. The fiercest Spirits of the other Factions V. Some Bigots of the Roman Communion that were English and particularly those that had been bred up or had travelled in their Dominions and were well Jesuited VI. The leading Irish Papists in particular VII Men Ambitious of Greatness or Idolizers of Money and that chiefly in Scotland VIII Men disgustful or disabliged IX Men of desperate Fortunes and lost Reputations Of all these they were with great confidence to imploy and highly to oblige and flatter some while they were for their turn and disoblige others and then when they had done with them vice versa to disoblige and cast off those whom they had obliged and seemed to have trusted and court oblige and receive others who were before disoblig'd knowing how to work their Ends by those they disobliged as well as by those obliged But yet none of these except some of the first sort were to know the whole of their Designs nor be informed
never any of His present Highness's Predecessors have been ever as much as suspected of aspiring at any Power over the Commonwealth but what tended to its greater Security and for the Elevation of the Majesty of the Republick without the least Glances of assuming any to themselves unless it were His Highness's Father who in all probability was animated thereunto by his matching with a Daughter of England And that his Ambition might have proved fatal to the Republick beyond Retrieve if his immature Death and other seasonable Providences had not intervened That the Influence of that Match had proved very detrimental to that illustrious House by stirring up such a Jealousie in the States against them as would not suffer them to admit the present Prince for a long time to enjoy the Places of Honour Authority and Trust formerly so well maintained and officiated by his noble Ancestors And that at the same time it had proved as pernicious to the States themselves in creating and nourishing Factions among them and Endeavours to keep up the Republick upon a new Model without Captain-General Stadtholder Admiral c. and to deprive themselves of the so necessary and Auspicious Assistance and Conduct of that most Illustrious House and thereby exposed even almost to be made a Prey to the dangerous Ambition of the French Monarch And therefore now when they had so newly re-enter'd into their true Interests and happily re-fixed all things on the old Foundation by restoring the present Prince to the Dignity of his Ancestors and calling him to the Helm of the Tempest-beaten State and had by his Courage Conduct and Interest recovered the Common-wealth to a very hopeful Condition of Power and Prosperity again it would be no less than a Madness to venture the Ruin of all those fair Hopes by a second Match with England when by the former they had been almost all Shipwrack'd and to suffer a Prince who was now wholly their own to espouse in such a Marriage as was then in Agitation a Foreign Interest and such as in all probability could not in time but interfere with theirs And therefore desired it might not be 1. Because though the Prince's Intentions should happen to continue never so right and firm to the Interest of the Republick yet this Match could not but be still very detrimental both to him and them by causing incurable Jealousies Factions and Animosities amongst them without end and which could not but be of pernicious Consequence to them both 2. That by reason of the little probability of the Duke of York's having any Vivacious Male Issue this would give the Prince such a near Prospect of the British Crowns that it could not but engage him in that View upon all Occasions to strain his Power and Interest in the United Provinces to the utmost for the advantage of the English Nation to the prejudice of the Dutch increase of Power and Interest 3. That if he ever came to be King of England the Power he would thereby obtain added to that he had already in the United Provinces as Stadt-holder Captain General c. and to the great Influence he had among the Soldiery in the States pay would undoubtedly be a great temptation to him for to reduce that State under the English Crown and influence the others to assist him in it And that if he should have Issue by his Princess as it was likely enough he might the danger under that Circumstance would be in a manner inevitable It s likely my Lord our Politicians here forsaw very great Difficulties would arise in making any manner of Impressions upon the States against the Prince's Match for by the foresaid Remonstrances it does appear to me their Master-battery was turned on that side but though all their Politicks have failed them for the prevention of the Marriage yet they have not failed to put some of these Arguments foâ—â—ards to render the Prince and all his Proceedings suspect to the States and they have already bragged that all the Constancy his Highness is well known to be Master of will find work enough to ver-come the Jealousies entertained of him and which they are resolved never to be wanting on their part to foment and to make it believe that all he has acted since his marriage has been to the aggrandizing of himself and his Authority and the Diminution of that of the Republick I fear I have already too much transgrest by my tediousness and shall therefore only subscribe my self as I am in sincerity My LORD Your Lordships Most humble Servant Paris Sept. 20. 1679. N. S. LETTER LXII Of the Solemn Embassy sent by the French King to King Charles II. in the Year 1677 in order to break off the Match with the Prince of Orange c. My LORD PUrsuant to what I have already mentioned to your Lordship of the Designs concerted between his Royal Highness and the French King about getting of the Lady Mary by a Stratagem into France if their other Measures about hindring the Match were broken was the late solemn Embassy sent over from hence into England whereof the Count d' Estree was the head accompanied with the Duke de Vendosme the Archbishop of Rheims one of our great Minister the Marquiss de Louvois's Sons and at least fifty Lords more of principal Note and whose publick instructions tho' they imported nothing more then a great Complement and some overtures about forbiding any recruits to be sent over to our Land Forces in the service of the Confederates yet privately they were to endeavour a French match and if they saw they could not succeed therein to concert closer measures with the Duke about puting in practise what he had before consented to about geting the Princess his daughter privately convey'd away in Company of this Embassador into France and perhaps your Lordship will not be dissatisfied if I recount what I have heard discoursed one day at this Court between our Commissioner and some other Courtiers concerning the Embassy Said one of them to theother What needed so splendid and costly an Embassy at this time of day to the King of England when there is so little hopes that he durst give his Consent to what we desire of him if he were of himself disposed thereto Yes says the other 'T will be well worth the Cost let things go as they will upon this occasion for 't is a greater honour our King now does to the King of England than he has ever yet done to any other Prince or ever to the Emperor himself when at Peace with him and such an Honour cannot but work sensibly upon the heart of a Prince who is so easily wrought upon and may work some good Effects for us in time if not for the present And however if the worst come to the worst this extraordinary Honour now done him by our Monarch will make his Parliament and People so fully persuaded that he hath entred into an extraordinary
something so singular and diverting therein that I cannot but flatter my self it will still in some measure prove agreeable Mr. Coleman had for a long time manag'd the Intrigues between the French and English Courts and that your Lordship well knows for his Letters that were seiz'd and publisht make it evident and he was one of the chief Instruments to draw his Master the Duke of York into so close a Correspondence with them as he was ingag'd in of which your Lordship has heard before and from the Year 1676 to near the time he was Arraign'd and Condemn'd for the Popish Plot I am free to acquaint you my Lord That all his Letters past through my hands being first directed to a French Gentleman who took care to transmit them to me with Orders to send them to Father St. Germain who manag'd all Affairs between him and Father La Choise but I saw the Contents of few or none of them till lately I have found them among other things of that kind in the Minutes of our French Secretary and which is the Reason your Lordship has not receiv'd this Account sooner at which I am sure you cannot but stand astonished as I was my self when I acquaint you that I find it entred here that the Duke of York was during this famous Correspondence two several times in France and Closetted to boot by his Most Christian Majesty which by the way unfolds the Mystery of the Proposals I have formerly mentioned about Trapanning the Princes into France but it was both times by Night and the Works of Darkness between One and Two of the Clock in the Morning trusty persons being ready posted to Introduce him And one time a Councellor of the Parliament of Paris to whom Some of Coleman's Letters were directed happening accidentally to let fall an Expression intimating That the Duke of York was come thither in Person tho' it was Voic'd up and down among the Courtiers it was Coleman he receiv'd a very severe Check for his unseasonable Inadvertence and as a farther punishment he had no more any Secrets communicated to him for the Letters from thenceforward were distributed by another way The first time the Duke was Closetted was a little before the second Dutch War to concert Measures how he should he enabled to induce his Brother to give his Consent to it to promote the French Designs thereby as was likewise our Famous Admiral Sir Edward Spragg for the same purpose not very long after the Duke The second time was a little before the Splendid and Extraordinary French Embassy was sent into England and wherein Measures were Concerted how to induce our King to give his Consent to have the Princess Mary Married into France and in case that would not do how to Steal her and send her away when they went off but this Intrigue coming to be privately discover'd to the King by one of the Duke 's great Confidents he had the Cunning to dissemble the matter and took no manner of notice of it to the Duke his Brother but gave secret Orders that a strict Eye and a good Guard should be kept over the Princess and would not permit the Duke to have her abroad upon any Invitations or other pretence whatsoever till the Embassadors were quite gone saying It would administer Iealousie to His People if She should be permitted to stir abroad much while the French Sparks continued in England And to prevent the like Plots upon her for the future and to please His People who were now upon the fret and as they would have it here out of Displeasure against such an Indirect and Rash Procedure which had it taken effect as he said would have dashed him and his Government in an Instant upon an inevitable Rock he Married Her as your Lordship well remembers to the Prince of Orange to the great Regret and Vexation of the French Court and of the Duke too who from thenceforward hath not cared how almost he exposed the King his Brother by engaging of Him in continual Troubles for his sake nor how closely he United with the French Faction who afterward wreakt their Revenge for some time upon the Duke himself but chiefly upon the King by their Intrigues in bringing the following Popish Plot upon the Stage Both the times the Duke was on this side the King knew not of or at least they design'd He should believe so but thought he was retir'd for Indisposion yet both times he brought Remittances for considerable Sums of Money yet the French were highly displeased at him for his failure in the aforesaid Match and the subsequent Plot upon his Daughter so far as that they Suspended his Pensions as they likewise did Coleman's which made them both incline to Revolt to the Spanish Faction and moved the Duke to some seeming willingness to go over and Command the English Forces in Flanders in the War then likely to be declared from England against France for which they were cruelly revenged upon Mr. Coleman by contriving his Ruin and Death and against the Duke of York too by the discovery of the Popish Plot in which they were highly Instrumental and by imploying the Dutchess of Portsmouth and some other of their Creatures in our Court which were bigotted to their Interests to promote the Bill of Exclusion that so that Prince might be brought under a necessity as they thought to return to and absolutely to rely upon them for when in those Troublesom Times the Duke was forced to retire to Bruxells the French King was heard to say That had he follow'd his Counsel and been constant to him he should not have needed to have retir'd to Bruxells or to any other place but France But however I find all was accommodated again afterward and the Duke got closer in with them than ever when the Whigparty as they call'd it was quash'd and things were ripe for another Plot called The Pr. one But however before that Breach we have spoken of with the Duke and Coleman they were resolv'd first to get some Service out of them for finding after the Allyance with Holland that our King was somewhat inclin'd to comply with His Parliaments and Peoples Instances well as those made to Him by the Confederate Ministers in Declaring a War in conjunction with them against France as appear'd by His Speech to the Parliament But more by their Voting a Fleet of Ninety Capital Men of War and an Army of Nine and twenty thousand Land-soldiers for that purpose of all which it does appear Coleman sent over hither a speedy Account They then presently Renewed their Pensions to him and to the Duke for some time with a Solemn Promise of a considerable Sum by way of Gratuity besides if they could so far prevail as to sow such Dissentions between the King and Parliament as might hinder those Preparations by being seconded by an Actual Declaration of War which they did effectually for they had by their Creatures
quarter of the Suâ— he was to have had for that Affair and much less the Expences he had been at And that now at last he had lost his dear Life for serving his Majesty by which sad disaster she and her Family being ruin'd and reduc'd to misery and great want she therefore humbly besought his Majesty if he would be pleas'd to do nothing else for her that he would order her the payment of her Husband's Arrears c. To which Petition my Lord this Court Reply'd That Mr. Coleman her Husband had had more Mony from them than he deserv'd That he had been a false inconstant Rascal and had brought himself to that shameful end by his own Folly and Knavery having had the impudence to threaten his Majesties Embassador to turn Cat in Pan c. That his Majesty had nothing to say to her and would not give her one Farthing which surly Answer so thunder-struck the Poor Woman that she return'd over into England so enrag'd and in such a dreadful Fit of Despair that she miserably cut her own Throat at her Lodging in London which relation and Coppy of the Petition I had delivered me by an English Priest who was Coleman's Wife's Confessor and which after I had Transcrib'd it I delivered to the English E to be sent to King Charles the Ild. that he might see how his Brother's Creatures served him but how he represented it is beyond my knowledge to tell I have been tedious and am affraid troublesome to your Lordship by a long Epistle but the Curiosities whereof the various parts of it are Composed will I hope be as powerful a lenitiue against any Displeasure I may have incurred from your Lordship as they have been incitatives for me to write it who am My Lord Your most humble and most obedient Servant Paris Apr. â— 1683. N. St. LETTER LXVIII Of the Marquess de Louvois's being in England several times in King Charles the II. Reign and about what Business My Lord IN my last to your Lordship I have given some intimations concerning the Dukes being in France and Closetted by the French King and of Mr. Coleman's Negotiations and imbroylments with this Court together with his Wifes Calamitous life and Tragical death which I believe were wholly new to you And I cannot think but that of the Marquess de Louvois our great Minister of State here his being again and again in England and Closetted there with the King and Duke must be equally strange and surprizing to you but tho it be a secret I verily believe to all other persons on your side except the two foremention'd persons yet it is not so entirely such here especially in our Office that he has been wanting sometimes and hardly any of his Family knew what was become of him is most certain and upon such occasions it was sometimes given out he was indispos'd in the Country sometimes that he was sent into Handers Alsatia c. whether he afterwards went actually with so much expedition tho he rode in a â—â—tter that his Journeys into â—â—â—land were never perceiv'd I find two several occasions wherein he was Closetted 1. About a year before the breaking out of the second Dutch War when he was sent particularly to help the King and his Brother to concert the Preparations for and manner of Carrying on that War 2. To concert measures how to stave off the effects of the Popish Plot by remitting of Mony to dissolve Parliaments and by other methods when they saw they were carrying things farther then the French Interest required to have them driven but upon condition the two Brothers should not depart from their Interests for the future To complot measures how to ensnare the Protestant Party and especially the high Patriots in a Plot that should quite extinguish the Popish one and give the Duke of York opportunity to cut off all those who stood in the way between him and the Crown and between the Crown and absolute Power All which Closettings have been very short as well as private and performed with incredible diligence and of which 't is all I am able to inform your Lordship and with which I conclude remaining My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant Paris May 16. 1683. N. St. LETTER LXIX Of that called the Presbyterian Plot. My Lord I Was not a little transported with Joy to find your Lordship's Name was not incerted in the List I have seen of Persons taken up for the Plot I have had the vanity to flatter my self that some things that I have Writ lately to your Honour concerning Monsieur Louvois's Negotiations in England may inspire you with a more than ordinary Caution upon such an occasion wherein when it shall lye with your Lordship's conveniency to let me have a Line from you I do not desire so much to be satisfied as what Rules I am to observe for my future conduct in respect to my Correspondence since I have some reason to suspect your Honour may be uneasy under the present Circumstance of things and I have heard â—â—settled too I have little to say at present how far the Ministers of this Court are engaged in starting of this Conspiracy what I have formerly Written concerning their Management of the several Factions in England may give your Lordship some view of their Designs but what they generally say of it is That it was now seasonable to set up a Protestant one as a fresh game and since by their strong concurrence when they saw it time they had enabl'd the King to stiffe the other Popish one and thereby diverted the current of his Arms ready to fall upon them it was necessary having new Designs of Conquests in view and what can it be but Luxemburg block't up by them last year to raise a new Disturbance in his Dominions which could not be better effected now than by starting a Plot of another Stamp which would not only incapacitate the King to interpose and put a stop to their career but would also be an effectual means to make the holding of Parliaments impracticable at least for a time and make him quite fast in a manner to their King's Purse-strings towards which they had by the other Plot made such considerable Advances I do presume your Lordship retains the same English Spirit you were ever Master of and are as constant notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of State which have happen'd in your time which is the Reason I retain still my usual freedom who am My Lord Your humble Servant Paris July 21. 1683. N. S. LETTER LXX Of the Model of Ships sent by King Charles II. to the French King c. My Lord I Do presume it is a matter no longer doubted of that our King is fallen in more than ever with the interests of this Court the many Models and Draughts of Ships which he has sent over hither and some whereof I have seen at the Marquess de Louvois is a convincing proof of
heard it more than whisper'd here for a general Revolt of the Irish Natives in their favour whom they had provided to succour on a sudden without declaring War or the least Intimation beforehand of their Designs to the King But now having prevail'd with him to make such Advances as he has begun against the said famous Act which they have looked upon as it were the Band of Peace not only to Ireland but even to the Three Nations and perhaps they are right enough in their Judgment they believe they have hereby put him on a Point that will quickly bring him into Distress enough to need them and consequently to the necessity of taking his future measures from them expecting henceforward a more implicite Complyance than ever Thus my Lord have they laid their Foundation the Success and Event Time must determine but from such undermining Politicians Good Lord deliver England c. for the Dangers which threaten both its Religion and Civil Liberty are very great tho' I hope not inevitable Pardon the freedom in these Particulars of him who is and ever shall remain ready to please your Lordship to the utmost of my power and cannot but subscribe himself My Lord Your Honour 's most humble and most obedient Servant Paris Mar. 26. 1687. LETTER XXXII Of K. James's Closetting several Persons and the Arguments he was advis'd to use to them to consent to the Abrogating of the Penal Laws and Test. My Lord YOur Lordship for ought I know may know much better than I can inform you what Arguments the King has us'd to such as have been lately Closetted by him and if Fame be not a you are one of that number for a List of them is not yet come into our but I can transmit into your Hands what has been concerted here in the nature of Instructions to the French Emissaries at White-Hall hereupon they were to represent to the King and he to the closetted Gentlemen That there were four Kings who had endeavour'd to bring the Kingdom of England into an Uniformity in Religion that so the People might live in Amity one with another and notwithstanding all the Expedients tho' seemingly very likely to take effect and succeed according to wish which wise Politicians had suggested from time to time yet they had hitherto proved abortive and their Endeavours had been in vain That therefore the only way left for to settle Tranquillity in a State so as to be no more to be disturb'd about Religion was to grant every one the freedom fully to enjoy his own That such an Iudulgence of all Religions in Holland was as much a cause of the flourishing of that State in Wealth and Greatness and more than any other that could be assign'd and to say that such a Liberty tho' it might be compatible enough with a Republick was not yet with Monarchical Governments was a gross Mistake and Experience shewd it to be quite otherwise both in the Turkish Empire Kingdom of Persia and elsewhere where the Greek and Armenian Christians have been tolerated in their Religion for many Ages and yet have been so far from being mutinous or Disturbers of the respective States they have liv'd under that they are great Supporters of them especially the Armenians who are almost the only Merchants they have in that mighty and extensive Kingdom of Persia That the Persecutions which our Nonconformists in England have from time to time been under had been the cause of the flight of many good Subjects beyond the Seas of whom our neighbouring Nations drew great and solid Advantages and that those who have staid at home have by reason of the Pressures they have labour'd under provd uneasie and turn'd Malecontents and if they have not had Virtue and Constancy enough patiently to suffer under their Misfortunes they were alwaies ready to favour Revolts and enter into Factions whereof they had seen fatal effects in the late Reigns from which no King could be able to secure his Person and his Subjects but that uneasie and turbulent Spirits would be alwaies ready under Pretence of Religion which they abused to disturb and molest them Which Reasons the King was to back closely with large Promises of Favour and if he found any obstinate to mix his Reasons and Promises with some Intimations of his Displeasure and upon an absolute Refusal to proceed to divest some of their Places under him and to alledge for a Reason of his so doing That it was not reasonable that they who refused their Services should enjoy his Favours and that if hereupon any should be so audacious as to tell him That this Practice of his was irregular and contrary to the Freedom which the Laws of the Land allow'd to them especially as Members of Parliament whose Suffrages ought to be spontaneous and free they were to be put in mind that they had forgot the Violences used by King Henry VIII upon the like occasions and the methods so many other Kings had put in practise to engage their Parliaments to subscribe to their Wills that they might consider that two of the most famous Parliaments that ever were in the Kingdom of England had authoriz'd this Conduct in the Reign of Edward III and King Richard II when some of the Pope of Rome's Bulls were contested as being looked upon too much to entrench on the King's Prerogative that the Parliament prayed King Edward and obliged Richard almost against his Will to give their Consent by particular Conferences with the Members to promise to use the utmost of their Power to maintain the King's Prerogative and the Rights of the Crown against that See c. But if that after all the King should find that neither Arguments Promises Threats nor Examples would do he was advis'd to proceed in his Brother's Steps by â—uo Warranto and so to concert measures with those that presided over Elections for the regulating of Corporations whereon they depended tho' this was by far the more tedious way but yet there was one way to hasten it for whereas new Charters in his Brother's time granted in lieu of the old ones were many of them retarded because the Court-Officers insisted upon too much Mony the King now might give positive Directions to such persons to dispatch them without such Considerations with a Promise to gratifie them another way and if he found that would not do then he was to cashier such Officers and put others in their room who would engage to do the business to effect I am afraid my Lord I have wearied you with an impertinent Letter and therefore if an abrupt conclusion will any way mend the matter I remain My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble Servant Paris Nov. 19. 1687. N. S. LETTER XXXIII Of my Lord Castlemain's being sent Ambassador to Rome by K. James and of his receiving the Pope's Nuncio in England My Lord THAT my Lord of Castlemain was sent Ambassador to Rome has been transacted wholly on your
side of the Water for besides that this Court were then and are still at variance with the Papal See There is not the least Instruction transmitted from hence as far as I can find either to England or Rome concerning that matter but perhaps he might receive them in transitâ— and by word of mouth only from M. L. who failed not to see him But as for Count Dada the Apostolâ—ck Nuncio as they call him they have shewed some Concern here that he should have an honourable Reception in England and have order'd it so as to get our King to dispense with that Ceremony which Henry VIII and even his Daughter Queen Mary insisted upon that he should wait like a Mumper at a French Port till he had Leave granted him to enter into England And that the English Nation who had not seen such a Vision for near an Age and a half might not be overterrified with it the French Agents were instructed to suggest unto those Lords and others whom they should think most susceptible of their Sophistry That since the King as a Roman-Catholick Prince could do no less than send an Ambassador to Rome to salute the Pope tho' it were but for form-sake and that his said Ambassador had had such an extraordinary Reception and great Civilities shewed him there it were but very equitable the King in his turn should shew the like to his Nuncio who was a Layman and in that quality came to congratulate his accession to the Throne from his Master not so much as he sate in St. Peter's Chair as he was a Temporal Prince to whose Ministers as such the Law of Nations required a just Deference should be paid That to send a solemn Embassy to the Great Turk who was a Mahumetan and a sworn Enemy to all Christians however denominated was never so much as boggled at by any English-man or other Christian Nation whatsoever either in this or any preceding Age That the Ambassadors of the Emperor of Morocco had been lately received in England most honourably and yet their Master both a Mahametan and a Barbarian Prince in whose Countries Christians were treated more like Brute-Beasts than Men and should they disdain to concur with their Prince to receive with some Ceremony and if not by way of a publick and pompous Entry yet privately in his Palace a Minister from him to whose Civilities many of our English Nobility and Gentry were highly obliged in their Travels to Rome and Italy But what Success they have had in this petty Agency your Lordship can tell much better than I at this distance but the Duke of Somerset is as highly exclaimed against here for refusing to perform the Ceremony of introducing the Nuncio as the Duke of Grafton is applauded for doing of it who I hope for all that will never have the Thanks of a House of Commons for it I am My Lord Your very obedient and humble Servant Paris Nov. 2â— 1â—87 N. S. LETTER XXXIV The French Politicks to embroyl England My Lord THE French Emissaries having gain'd severat Points and particularly that mentioned in my last they have lately turn'd their Batteries another way They have been most of this while endeavouring to compass their Ends by putting the King and those who have most influence over him upon desperate courses whereof the most material I have as Occasion has served noted to your Lordship It will hardly be believed that they would offer to propose any Maxims to the Legal Party in England that are really for their advantage Did not their Instructions make it appear to be so tho they have proposed far different Ends therein I do not question but your Lordship has observed the Uneasiness of the Nation under the present Proceedings of the King and Court-party but tho they have just cause of suspicion I must assure your Lordship the same has been and may still be aggravated by the Agents of this Court who teach them to infuse into the People That the Protestant Religion is in great danger That the reduction of the Roman-Catholicks to the Bounds establish'd by the Law of the Land is highly necessary and without the latter be effected it will be impossible for the former long to subsist That it was visible the Privileges of Parliament were infâ—inged more than in any time of their Ancestors That Arbitrary Power was already acted and without timely prevention would get such rooting that all the power of England could not dethrone it That there was not scarce one made a Nobleman since the Kings accession to the Throne in the Three Kingdoms but such as were Pâ—pâ—sts and That all Honours and Offices of Profit either in Court or Camp were shared amongst such whilst the Protestants lay neglected as useless persons and such as were deem'd to have no Share nor Lot in the Government That the person of the King it 's true was sacred but at the same time it was not only justifiable but an incumbent Duty upon them as Englishmen as they would answer it to God and their Country timously to think of the Danger and to apply the Remedy for without the removal of such Ministers as then managed the State it would be in vain to expect their Grievances could be redressed and their Religion and Liberties secured and if they find themselves harken'd to and their Propositions approved they have further Instructions to hint an Association for one Expedient c. God Almighty knows what will become of poor England amidst so many Designs upon her Religion and Liberty both by foreign and domestick Enemies who continually prey upon her Vitals I can but pray for her as I do and always shall for your Lordship who am My Lord Your most devoted Servant Paris Dec. 13. 1687. LETTER XXXV King James tho' already much disposed put more out of Conceit with the Prince of Orange who is represented by the French Agents very illy to him My Lord I Have in my last suggested to you some of those Arguments the Emissaries of this Court have and are to use to the Church of England-men as they find occasion and a disposition to receive them for to put them upon violent courses to their own and Nation 's destruction But at the same time they have entertained an incurable Jealousie of the Prince of Orange and construe the most just and generous Actions of a Prince who was always so in the worst sense imaginable and as such represent them to the King whom they cunningly whistle in the Ear saying That he could not but know there were some persons in the Nation who were not pleased with his way of proceeding and therefore would be sure to take all Opportunities to oppose him That indeed now Monmouth was cut off they had no plausible Head to retire unto That for the Prince of Orange tho' he had apparently omitted nothing since His Majesty's advancement to the Throne for the maintaining of a fair correspondence with him and
his acquainting the King his Master therewith My Lord MY last imported some Intimations to your Lordship of Mr. Skelton when the King's Envoy at the Hague his discovering some secret Correspondence negotiated between England and Holland as he judged to his Master's disadvantage I have also noted how the King had been advertised of it from this Court where Mr Skelton is now in the same Quality as at the Hague and who I can further assure your Lordship has made a further Progress to unriddle the Intrigue since his Arrival by the means of one whose Name is Budeus de Verace a Protestant of Geneva who having been some time since Captain of the Guards to the Prince of Orange and having had the Misfortune to kill a Man in a Duel was casheered by him Mr. Skelton being then at the Hague and acquainted with the said Verace found a way to reconcile him to his Master by the Recommendation of my Lord Clarendon who having brought up his Son my Lord Cornbury at Geneva was under great Obligations to Verace for the good Offices he had done him and care taken of him this Genevese being thus re-established in the Favour of the Prince his Master had it seems a greater Share of it than before as he had also in the Secrets of Monsieur B his Favorite however it was it should seem by the sequel that he was now by his second Introduction to Favour become quite of Mr. Skelton's Interest who was the Instrument to reconcile him For not long since he has taken occasion to be dissatisfied with the Service he engaged in and withdrawn and being as was given out but whether so in reality or no upon his return to his native City of Geneva he took occasion to write a Letter to Mr. Skelton now in this City That the Noise about the Armamont in Holland was so far from being a false thing or otherwise to be conceived that it was a Matter of the highest Importance and did no less than concern the Safety of the Crown of his Master the King of England and that it was highly necessary he should be made acquainted with a Son-in-Law whom he knew not This he desired Mr. Skelton to communicate to the King with all speed but he was not willing to make any further Discovery of his Secret to any other save to the King himself in Person if the King were so pleased as to send him Orders by Mr. Skelton to come and attend upon him Upon the receipt of which Letter from the said Genevese Mr. Skelton hath writ Five or Six Letters to the King in a very pressing lively and urgent manner but what effect they have had upon him may be the Subject of another Letter and perhaps of my next if my intelligence fail me not in the mean time I am and shall be My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and devoted Servant Paris Aug. 14. 1688. N. S. LETTER XLV Of the Slights used to make King James negligent to provide against the Inuasion from Holland My Lord I Do not find Mr. Skelton's Instances have had any great Effects upon the King towards quickening his Pace to ward off the Blow that seems to be preparing to be given him And I have something more than a Suspicion That it is the Desire of this Court the Kingdom should be invaded and that the Agents of it have been extraordinary busy to countermine whatever Advices have been given the King for taking a timely Precaution to defend himself so that there is my Lord in this Case a Wheel within a Wheel and whatever open Professions of Kindness is shewed him from hence by a timous Premonition of his Danger there is as great Care seriously to thwart all by contrary Counsels And among other things it has been eagerly urged to him That the Prince of Orange continues to carry himself towards him with such a Conduct as could not leave the least room to entertain any Suspicion of him and could it be thought that a Prince who had shewed his Devoirs to him so far as to make his Complements as other Princes had done upon the Birth of his Son the Prince of Wales and caused the Name of his new Brother-in-Law to be added to those of the Princes of the Family for whom they prayed in his Chappel should be unsincere or have the least Design to molest him or his Kingdoms by Arms especially since Van Citters the States Embassador had particularly assured him That what Preparations were made in Holland did not regard England but had given him to understand That France had a great deal more Reason to be alarmed than he But after all whatever were intended by such Preparations which they were well assure were much greater in Fame than in Reality his Majesty's Affairs were in so good a Posture that he had no Reason to fear any Enterprizes whatsoever That he had a Land Army a Fleet and such good Magazines as were sufficient to render the Efforts of almost all the complicated Powers of Europe ineffectual tho' such a Conjunction was as little to be expected as that his most Christian Majesty would abandon him who if he saw occasion as there was now but little likelihood would no fail to support him with all the Power of France both by Sea Land c. I will not be further Troublesome to your Lordship but remain My Lord Your humble Servant Paris Aug. â—8 1688. LETTER XLVI My Lord S charged by some of the French Faction with Infidelity to his Master King James My Lord IF your Lordship should ask me What the real Designs of this Court are in reference to England in such a conjuncture they seem to have other Sentiments now of the Invasion than they had a few days ago when they were secretly promoting the same Might and Main as I have intimated not long since to your Lordship with a View to engage us in a Civil War and thereby bring the King under a Necessity of calling in such a French Power to his Assistance as he should never be able to force out again But now they seem to be quite against it upon the opposition made by a great Minister of State to their Offer both of Men and Ships upon this occasion of whom they talk strange things here and say that in regard to the King however he has insinuated and winded himself into his Favour more than any they could recommend or propose he must be an Enemy reconciled only in a way of Policy and Necessity that he had in former Parliaments pushed on the Bill for his Exclusion with greater eagerness and warmth than any other That he had never attempted to recover his Favour but when he had a Prospect to injure him thereby that he is a Man intent to follow the prevailing Side but that he had always in case of any Change a safe Retreat to the other side that whilst he adhered to the Factions in Parliament against